Tiger starts strong, struggles late at Oak Hill

Tiger Woods has ground to make up after the first round of the 95th PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, N.Y.

Looking to join Walter Hagen and Jack Nicklaus as the only five-time winners of the tournament, Tiger started well but stumbled coming in on Thursday during a calm, sunny day made for scoring. Playing on greens softened from overnight rain, he shot a 1-over-par 71, closing with a double-bogey on the par-4 ninth hole.

“The round realistically could have been under par easily,” said the top-ranked Woods, who trails early pacesetter Jim Furyk and Adam Scott by six strokes. “I played really well today.”

Tiger hit only nine fairways and nine greens in regulation, but his short game bailed him out. He made a handful of scrambling pars and used only 27 putts, one-putting seven times on the first nine. Earlier in the week, he received a putting lesson from good friend Steve Stricker.

“I made some nice key putts out there,” Woods said.

An early back nine starter with Keegan Bradley and Davis Love III, Tiger came up short of the green with his approach shot on the par-4 10th hole, but managed to get up and down. At the par-3 11th, he missed the green left, but nearly chipped in to save par again.

After a par at the par-4 12th, Woods birdied the 598-yard, par-5 13th, tapping in from close range. Following a par at 14, the shortest par-4 on the course at 323 yards, Tiger birdied the 181-yard, par-3 15th, sinking a 10-foot putt.

Woods parred the final three holes to make the turn in 2-under.

The second nine was a struggle. Tiger parred the par-4 first hole, then hit a nice approach shot to the 408-yard, par-4 second, but missed a 3 1/2-foot birdie putt. Woods said he felt rushed on the putt after the group was put on the clock the previous hole.

“We had to get going and try to close up the gap,” Woods said, referring to the group in front of him. “It would have been nice to take a little bit longer on that putt. It was pretty tricky. Looking from behind the hole, it looked like it wasn’t going to snap. I ended up playing it somewhere in between and then blocked it.”

Tiger gave himself another good birdie chance at the 201-yard, par-3 third, but missed a 15-foot putt. Then he made a mess of the 574-yard, par-5 fourth.

Using a driver for the first and only time during the round, Tiger pushed it right into juicy 4 1/2-inch rough. He then slashed his second shot right, the ball catching a tree but kicking into the fairway, then missed the green with a “loose” 9-iron, the ball finding the front-right bunker. Woods splashed his fourth shot six feet past the cup and two-putted for a bogey.

“I just hit a bad iron there,” Woods said.

Tiger burned the right edge of the hole with an 18-foot birdie putt at the par-4 fifth, then made a good two-putt par at the 186-yard, par-3 sixth, running his long birdie attempt five feet beyond the cup. He made a nice up-and-down for par at the par-4 seventh, where his second shot failed to reach the green from the fairway. Tiger then parred the par-4 eighth.

However, at the 452-yard ninth hole, Woods blocked his tee shot into the right rough, tried to cut his second shot around the corner but caught a tree and wound up in deeper rough. His third shot failed to clear a greenside bunker, and he blasted out and two-putted for a double-bogey.

“I tried to shape one there, and I drew no lie at all for my third shot,” Tiger said. “I happened to get a lie where the ball was settled down and into the grain. I was just trying to play 20 feet long and putt back and get my bogey and get out of there. I didn’t even get it over the bunker. It came out nowhere. Didn’t really have much from there, hit a beautiful putt, just lipped out.”

Dating back to 2003 PGA Championship at Oak Hill, when Woods tied for 39th, he has now shot five-straight over-par rounds on the East Course. He’ll look to change that Friday.

“I’m still right there,” Tiger said. “We have a long way to go.”

On Friday, Woods begins second-play on the first tee at 1:45 p.m. ET with Bradley and Love.