Love leads after 64, Woods 6 back

Tiger Woods could have used a day off. Instead, he may have to work overtime to keep alive golf's longest winning streak in 52 years.

When Woods crawled off the Torrey Pines North Course with a 1-under 71 in the Buick Invitational, he found himself six strokes behind Davis Love III and facing his largest first-round deficit in 11 months.

In any other tournament, Woods might have marched straight to the driving range to figure out why he hit only half the fairways and not nearly enough greens. Today, he was ready to go home.

"It's just one of those things that I think I need a day off," Woods said. "I've been grinding pretty hard lately. Maybe I'm just a little tired and need a little rest."

It's hard to blame him.

While Love put together a 7-under 65 - despite not making a par until his 10th hole - and Phil Mickelson gave his hometown crowd something to cheer with a 66, the buzz in the Buick was all about Woods and his amazing streak toward history.

No one since Ben Hogan in 1948 had won six straight tournaments until Woods won at Pebble Beach on Monday. No one ever thought anyone could even sniff Byron Nelson's record of 11 in a row in 1945 - until Woods came along.

"He's the guy to beat as long as he doesn't hurt himself," Love said after playing the more difficult South Course. "He's been on a roll since high school."

He's been on a big-time roll since August, a six-pack of PGA Tour victories in which he counts Love and Mickelson as victims.

"Tiger is forcing everybody to play at a whole other level," Mickelson said after a 66 on the North Course. "Nobody has really done it yet. I think guys like Fred Couples (68), Davis Love and myself are really trying to play at a different level, and hopefully have a different winner on tour."

Don't count Woods out so fast.

"It's OK. There are a lot of holes to play," Woods said. "I proved that last year. You can go out there and make it up on the weekend, or even tomorrow."

Last year? What about last week?

He was five strokes back going into the final round at Pebble Beach - seven shots back with seven holes to play - and still managed to win for the sixth straight time, matching Ben Hogan in 1948 for the second-longest streak on the PGA Tour.

He has his work cut out for him if he is to take another step toward Nelson's record.

Maybe the secret is to give Woods a short week to get ready. After the Monday thriller at Pebble, he was at Torrey Pines at the crack of dawn on Tuesday and spent Wednesday in the pro-am. All of it seemed to take a toll on the 24-year-old Woods.

He was 2-over after three holes, and lucky to be that. He didn't hit a fairway. He didn't even hit a green in regulation. Woods had to make a 15-foot putt on his first hole (No. 10) and a 6-footer just to salvage a bogey on the next one.

By the time he reached the 507-yard 14th hole, Woods wore a look of exhaustion. Even after making a 30-foot eagle to get back to even par, it was all he could do to muster a smile, raise his putter in the air and lick his finger to chalk one up.

He missed a couple of 15-foot birdie putts before his first nine was over, and was muttering to himself on a long walk to the first tee.

"I just didn't have it," he said.

That's not to say he had no energy. Woods swung so hard with his driver on the 326-yard second hole that he fell a few steps back.

"That's all I've got," he whispered as the ball came one hop short of landing on the green. He lipped out a 3-footer for birdie, however, wasting the good drive.

Still, a tough day at the office for Woods is better than par for the course.

Even though Woods was six off the lead, keep in mind that last year he nearly missed the cut and went on to win by two strokes with a 62-65 on the weekend.

"The guy is awesome, man," said J.L. Lewis, who was in the group at 67. "He can play bad and win, and there is not very many guys that you can say that about. There are other guys who have a lot of talent, but he gets the most out of his."

That's the task facing Love and Mickelson, two supremely talented players who haven't gotten much out of their games lately.

Mickelson failed to win last year for the first time since 1992, ending the longest active streak on the PGA Tour. Love won over $2 million last year, but also failed to win.

Love spent the offseason trying to retool his swing, which he says partially contributed to his back and neck problems last year. The swing held up fine Thursday, even though it took him 10 holes to record a simple par.

He sandwiched a 6-foot birdie around two bogeys, fired off three more birdies before missing another green for bogey, and ended the front nine with two more birdies. The best break may have been a par on No. 14, when he had to take an unplayable lie, hit his third shot into 30 feet and make the putt.

If Love can keep it together until the final round, he still may find Woods waiting for him - or at least somewhere close - on Sunday.

Along with winning his last six PGA events, Woods has won 10 of his last 13 tournaments worldwide, and has finished lower than seventh only once since April.

"He's become an intimidating player," Love said. "You start wondering what he's going to do, and you lose track of what you're doing. We saw that happen last week."

Whether they see it again on Sunday is yet to be seen, but Woods has proven during this streak to expect anything.

DIVOTS: Along with making changes in his swing, Davis Love III went back to steel shafts in his irons. Love started using graphite shafts in the Tour Championship, and stuck with them until this week. One problem? He says he was hitting his irons too far. "That's why you see graphite in metal woods, but not always in irons," he said. ... Tiger Woods had his favorite driver back in the bag on Thursday, the one with the head that snapped off last Friday. Titleist had it repaired earlier in the week.

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