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Tiger Woods off to solid start with 70
Tiger Woods recovered from
a bogey five on the first hole to shoot a two-under-par 70 despite
a mixed performance with his putter on the opening day of the Masters
on Thursday .
"I hit a lot of good drives
today, a lot of crisp irons," Woods said. "I hit a few good putts,
misread a few but overall I'm very pleased that I got off to the
start I was able to get off to.
"I hit a lot of good putts
that didn't go in and I hit some bad ones."
The 25-year-old American,
bidding to become the first person to hold all four modern major
titles at the same time, was in trouble with his tee shot at the
par-four first hole when he sent the ball screaming into the trees
to the right of the fairway. He put his two-iron recovery shot into
a bunker but still managed to scramble a five.
"I was trying to hit a
nice bleeder up there and overcut it," Woods said. "They added three
new trees on the right side now so you are blocked out. Usually
in years past you put it over there, it's no big deal."
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Woods
misses a putt on the 8th. Allsport.
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Woods's second shot at the
second also flew to the right, landing among spectators gathered
around the green, although this time he managed to make par.
Birdies at the third and
seventh restored some respectability to his score and he added another
at the ninth after a booming drive well over 300 yards.
The world number one dropped
a shot at the 10th when his putt ringed the cup but did not fall.
He recovered by grabbing another birdie at the 15th after missing
an eagle putt.
Woods said he thought conditions
would be more in his favor as the course dried out later in the
tournament and overall he was satisfied with his performance.
"With the greens being
soft and receptive, the guys who are hitting kind of borderline
can get away with it," he said. "Once the greens become baked out,
borderline shots won't work out anymore.
"I've prepared well for
the tournament. I've hit the ball reasonably well in the practice
rounds.
"Anytime you shoot it in
the red in a major tournament the first day, you are going to be
in the right position."
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