Woods upbeat about even par round

Defending champion Tiger Woods missed six fairways and visited five bunkers but scrambled well to shoot a level-par 71 in the first round of the British Open on Thursday.

Woods, six strokes behind early leader Colin Montgomerie, was delighted to have kept his round together after an erratic morning in breezy conditions as he cancelled out three bogeys with three birdies.

The world number one showed his penchant for saving par when he went into his fifth bunker of the morning at the last and pitched to within inches of the hole.

"I grinded my way round the course and put myself in position," said Woods. "I didn't put myself out of the tournament, and sometimes that's what you have to do."

"I just couldn't get into a flow of hitting good shots but I was able to hang in there and persevere.

"If you're not swinging well but you can miss in the right spots you can keep the round going and not make anything worse than bogey.

"That's the key at most major championships. A double-bogey is difficult to come back from.

"I putted pretty good coming in, too. I kind of figured something out and was able to get into a fixed plane on release and I hit a lot of good putts coming in. I didn't feel that comfortable going out."

His erratic day began in style, though, as he holed from 15ft on the short first to birdie.

On the fourth, however, he found his first bunker in 76 holes of British Open Championship play. At St Andrews last year, Woods never once hit sand, but his drive right on the fourth ended that golden run.

It also provided his first bogey after he had splashed out on to the fairway but then could only hit in to 60ft for two putts, showing his frustration by tossing his club forcibly at his caddie Steve Williams.

A poor drive at the long sixth saw him find his second bunker of the day with his second shot, but Woods played a magnificent chip up the steep face to 20ft to save par this time with two putts.

On the 10th, though, he failed to make par again when he missed the green with his second shot and needed two putts from 30ft for bogey.

Another second shot into sand on the 11th and a tee-shot at the short 12th into the greenside bunker were both saved, though, and Woods went back to even par when he spun his approach back to only four feet on the 13th to birdie.

His erratic day continued with a bogey at 14 when he drove into heavy rough and missed the green, causing him to slash at the notorious Lytham hay with his club.

Showing the very perseverence he was pleased with, though, Woods then produced his shot of the morning, an approach to just two feet on the 16th for his third and final birdie.

"I felt I just couldn't arc out of my plane like I know I can," added Woods. "It wasn't the wind. I didn't have any problem figuring out the wind."

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