Tiger rebounds to shoot even par at Honda Classic
Tiger Woods rebounded from a shaky start to shoot an even-par 70 Thursday in the first round of The Honda Classic at the PGA National Champion Course in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. It could have been worse.
An early back-nine starter with Dustin Johnson and Martin Kaymer, Tiger bogeyed two of the first four holes and was staring at a potentially big number at the par-4 sixth — his 15th of the day — where he drove into the water hazard lining the left side of the fairway. Woods took off his shoes and socks, splashed a 9-iron back into play, then nestled a sand wedge from 80 yards to eight feet and made the par putt.
“How about that?” he said afterward. “It was only half-submerged, so I could play some kind of explosion shot and get it back in the fairway. I wasn’t trying to advance it very far.”
Admittedly, the clutch recovery kept his round together on a cold, damp day. He trails leader Camilo Villegas by six strokes.
“I was 1-over at the time, and if that ball is not playable from where it’s at, where I crossed the hazard was pretty far back and where I would have had to have dropped, I couldn’t even get an angle in the first cut [of rough] and had to drop in the primary and had to lay up. I’m looking at a 6, 3-over. All of a sudden I flip it, make par from there and birdie the next.”
Tiger hit the ball solidly, hitting nine of 14 fairways and 14 of 18 greens in regulation, but gave himself few good birdie opportunities. Woods had only five birdie tries inside 15 feet and used 32 putts on the day.
“I had some good putts,” said Woods, who tied for second in the event last year. “I was getting fooled on the grain; some of it was snagging, some I would blow through the top side. The green speeds are a little faster than they were Wednesday [during the Pro-Am], but it’s an adjustment I need to make.”
On the 508-yard, par-5 10th hole, Woods hit his second shot from 191 yards into the right greenside bunker and almost sank his long sand shot. However, he missed a 9-foot putt to save par.
After two-putt pars at Nos. 11 and 12, Tiger bogeyed the 388-yard, par-4 13th hole, where he drove into the right rough, knocked his approach shot from 135 yards into the left greenside bunker and failed to get up and down. Woods parred the next five holes, missing an eight-foot birdie attempt at the 190-yard, par-3 17th hole, and made the turn in 2-over 37.
Moving to the 366-yard, par-4 first hole, Tiger hit a good drive and had 144 yards to the green. His second shot wound up 10 feet from the cup, but he couldn’t convert.
Following a two-putt par from long range at No. 2, Woods collected his first birdie of the day at the 538-yard, par-5 third hole. Tiger punched his third shot from 83 yards within five feet of the hole and rolled in the putt.
Woods parred the next three holes, then birdied the 226-yard, par-3 seventh hole, pouring in a 20-foot putt, his longest sink of the round. Tiger closed his day with long two-putt pars at the par-4 eighth and ninth holes to shoot a 2-under 33.
On Friday, Woods starts second-round play on the first tee at 12:25 p.m. ET with Johnson and Kaymer.
