[ad_1]
Tiger Woods clocked a tight gap between two under-70s on Friday, placing him five times behind leaders Tommy Fleetwood and Keegan Bradley after 18 holes at the 2019 Players Championship. Woods actually made six birdies during the day (including a thriller in the 17th par-3), but too many errors on his approach shots led to a spot outside the top 25 after the first day at TPC Sawgrass. Let's look at his tour.
Before new (even 36): Woods started on the first tee and did not do much for the first nine holes. He scored both by 5 and did not find any rhythm with his swing, even though he presented it very well. His only boguey arrived at the long fourth hole of normal 3, where he pulled one to the left and had to move away from the pin due to a steep slope. He left him a 44-foot par putt, which he missed.
Back new (under 34 years old): It was the opposite of the first nine. Woods achieved a tie on the way to 34, and even that was an adventure as he had to come out of the sand on the 15th of normal 4 and on two rolls for a brave four. The climax of Woods' back nine probably came at number 17, the Green Island, where Woods shot his starting shot of 118 yards on a hole where 115 yards are wet and 121 yards are in the cup. He tied the putt for a second but then followed with a messy bogey on No. 18 which included a missed 4-foot putt for par.
What went well: During a week in which he sought some help for his short game, Woods beautifully exposed the problem statistically and empirically. His shot seemed free and he had all his blows Thursday on the greens. He made four putts over 13 feet and seemed confident in the process. That's a good sign, and I wonder how much it has to do with not being on the annoying green poa annua that he's seen on the west coast.
"I thought I drove well today," said Woods at Golf Channel. "It had to get comfortable and let the putts rip, and I could do it today."
What has gone wrong: Tiger did not play very well, which has not been the case so far this season. I thought it was an early rust problem, but it plunged into water a slice of the 11th by-5 that it had probably not even had when it won the US Amateur here in 1994. He lost the field shots on the approach, which you can not say very often about Tiger these days.
Stat of the day: Tiger lost two full shots on the field in just two holes – Nos 3 and 11. I already mentioned 11, but at the third of the normal 3 he had to escape his pin ball on the normal 3 after have struck in a completely dead area to the left of the green. He could not do a 44-foot, which earned him his first bogey of the day.
Where he is: Woods was T35 by the time he finished, but the rankings are cluttered. A hot start on the easy nine (where it will start) on Friday morning and Woods will be in the middle of the weekend.
And after: Tiger told Steve Sands of Golf Channel that his neck was good and it certainly looked like that. He used the helicopter finish and, on a few occasions, he seemed a bit suspended from movement, but he never seemed to suffer. His shot put him so confident right now – like he was going to do everything inside the 20-foot distance he even thinks – and I'm waiting for to something burning on Friday morning. Something in the range 66-67 to put his name in the top 10 from Saturday.
[ad_2]
Source link