Tiger fires uneven first round at Greenbrier Classic
It was an up-and-down day for Tiger Woods on Thursday in the opening round of the $6.1 million Greenbrier Classic at the Old White TPC Course in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va. Making his first appearance in the event, Tiger shot a 1-over-par 71, making four birdies, three bogeys and one double bogey.
Vijay Singh is the leader with a 7-under 63.
“I was just a little off today,” Woods said afterward. “I didn’t have the speed of these greens at all. The last three tournaments (Memorial, U.S. Open and AT&T National) I played greens that were awful quick and had a lot of swing at the end because of how fast they are. I missed every single high putt today. I never hit one that missed on the low side.”
Woods three-putted once, missing a two-footer, and used 31 putts for his round.
An early back nine starter with Webb Simpson and Steve Stricker, Tiger got off to a promising start with a 14-foot birdie putt at the 493-yard, par-4 11th hole. He came right back with another birdie at the 568-yard, par-5 12th hole, reaching the green in two and two-putting from 31 feet.
Woods dropped a shot at the par-4 13th, where he found the fairway off the tee, but over-shot the green with his approach. Tiger chipped to within five feet of the cup but was unable to convert.
Woods followed with pars at 15 and 16, then drove into the hazard on the right at the 616-yard, par-5 17th hole. After sustaining a one-stroke penalty, he took a drop, hit his next shot in the fairway, knocked his fourth shot 17 feet from the pin and three-putted for a double bogey, lipping out from two feet.
“Simple little tap in, and I just blocked it,” said Woods.
Tiger parred the 18th hole to make the turn in 1-over 37.
On the front nine, Woods rebounded with a birdie at the 449-yard, par-4 first hole, stiffing his second shot from 136 yards three feet from the cup. But he quickly gave the shot back with a bogey at the 488-yard, par-4 second, where he missed the green to the right with his second shot and was unable to get up-and-down.
After making pars at three and four, Tiger birdied the 388-yard, par-4 fifth. He hit a great second shot from 162 yards to about four feet from the hole and sunk the putt.
Following a par at No. 6, Woods bogeyed the 430-yard, par-4 seventh. He drove into the left fairway bunker, hit his second shot in the right greenside bunker, and was unable to save par.
Tiger scrambled for par at the 234-yard, par-3 eighth hole, then two-putted the par-4 ninth for a par from 25 feet to complete his round.
On the day, he hit 12 of 18 greens and 10 of 14 fairways in regulation. Decent stats considering his only previous look at the course came in the pro-am on Wednesday.
“I just didn’t make the adjustments,” said Woods, coming off his third PGA Tour win of the season last week at the AT&T National. “It was a course you could tear apart today. You get the ball in the fairway here, you’re going to have 9-iron on down and you can attack this golf course.”
Which is exactly what Tiger hopes to do on Friday. He’ll start on the first tee at 1:20 p.m. ET with Simpson and Stricker.
