Tiger shoots 6-under 66 in sparkling first round
Sparked by a putting tip from Steve Stricker, Tiger Woods took advantage of calm conditions to fire a 6-under 66 Thursday in the first round of the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship at the Blue Monster course at Trump Doral in Miami.
A six-time winner of the event, Tiger is tied for first with Bubba Watson, Graeme McDowell, Sergio Garcia and Freddie Jacobson. The elite field consists of 65 players, and there is no cut.
Woods collected nine birdies and three bogeys. On Wednesday, he received a putting tip from his good friend Stricker, a frequent Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup partner, and he poured in four long putts Thursday.
“Whatever Strick says, I’m gonna do,” said Woods, who last recorded nine first-round birdies at the 2012 BMW Championship. “That dude is one of the best putters that’s ever lived. He knows my stroke really well.”
Woods even had a three-putt during his round and still finished with only 23 total.
“Today was as easy as it gets,” Woods said of the rare windless day in South Florida.
A late back-nine starter with Rory McIlroy and Luke Donald, Tiger parred the first hole, then reeled off two straight birdies. He holed an 18-foot putt at the 402-yard, par-4 11th and an 11-foot putt at the 603-yard, par-5 12th.
Woods gave one back with a three-putt from 37 feet at the 245-yard, par-3 13th hole, then dropped another shot at the 460-yard, par-4 14th, where he drove into the right rough, missed the green to the right and was unable to get up and down.
Following a par at 15, Tiger birdied the 372-yard, par-4 16th, sinking a 20-foot putt. He two-putted the par-4 17th hole from 15 feet for par, then birdied the 467-yard, par-4 18th, where he launched his approach shot over water from 146 yards to nine feet and buried the putt to make the turn in 2-under 34.
On the front side, Tiger continued to charge with birdies at hole Nos. 1 and 2. At the 529-yard, par-5 first, he got up and down from just right of the green and made a three-foot putt. Woods hit a nice approach shot from 122 yards to five feet at the 418-yard, par-4 second and drilled the putt.
Tiger, who chatted with McIlroy throughout the round, lost a stroke at the 438-yard, par-4 third hole, where he drove into the left rough, missed the green left and took three shots to get down. But he rebounded with a 39-foot birdie at the 216-yard, par-3 fourth, putting from just off the green.
“I was just trying to die it down there so I wouldn’t have a second putt,” Woods said.
Tiger failed to capitalize on good birdie opportunities at the par-4 fifth and sixth holes, missing from eight and 12 feet, respectively. But he didn’t miss at the 454-yard, par-4 seventh, where from 158 yards he hit his second shot four-and-a-half feet from the cup and polished off the birdie putt.
Woods added another at the 538-yard, par-5 eighth, where he drove into the right fairway bunker and had to lay up short of the green. Tiger skipped a 60-degree sand wedge from 90 yards two feet from the hole. At the par-3 ninth, Woods just missed a 15-foot birdie putt and played the second nine in 4-under 32.
For the day, he hit seven of 14 fairways and 13 of 18 greens in regulation.
“I felt we needed to shoot a couple under on each side to be right there,” Woods said.
On Friday, Tiger begins second-round play at 12:59 p.m. ET off the first tee with McIlroy and Donald.
