Tiger two behind leader Kent Jones

Tiger Woods, in his first tournament since his Grand Slam chances ended at the British Open, shot a 5-under 67 Thursday and was two strokes behind first-round leader Kent Jones at the Buick Open.
Mark Brooks and K.J. Choi shot 66s.

Woods, who led a group of nine that included Hal Sutton, started solid and finished strong with two birdies in his last three holes. His iron play was excellent, but his putting was inconsistent.

Another group of 14 - including Mark O'Meara and David Toms, who will defend his PGA Championship next week - had 68s.

Woods was making his third PGA Tour start in 11 weeks.

He was the first player since Jack Nicklaus in 1972 to win the first two legs of the Grand Slam - the Masters and the U.S. Open - but an 81 in third round of the British Open at Muirfield ended the chance at winning the third leg. The PGA Championship, at Hazeltine in Minnesota, is the fourth major.

Jones, who is 130th on the money list, has missed the cut in four of his last five events and his best career finish was a tie for eighth at Pebble Beach in February. His second-best finish is a tie for 12th at the 1998 Buick Open.

Jones birdied three of the first four holes and four of the last six to fall one stroke short of his career-best round.

Brooks has had an awful year, but is coming off a strong performance at The International where he finished third, his only top 10 finish of the year. Brooks, who won the 1996 PGA Championship, has made the cut in just nine of 20 tournaments this year and finished tied for 73rd and 85th at events in the past two months.

Brooks birdied four of his first five holes and added two more to take the lead before Choi joined him atop the leaderboard during the afternoon.

Choi has missed the cut three times and has not fared better than a tie for 23rd since becoming the first Korean to win a tournament at the Compaq Classic in May.

Although it's been 31 years since a player won a major after winning a tournament the previous week, a lot of major winners and money list leaders are choosing to compete in the Buick Open before playing in the PGA Championship.

Fifteen of the last 19 major winners and four of the top five on the money list are in the field at Warwick Hills, about 60 miles north of Detroit.

Low scores are common at the course, which is relatively short with soft and true greens.

Woods said if strong winds stay away, the winner will probably have to be at least 20 under. The last 20 Buick Open champions have averaged 18.4 under par.

Defending champion Kenny Perry, who fell one stroke short of the tournament record at 25 under last year, will have to put together a good round on Friday to make the cut after shooting a 1-over 73.

Phil Mickelson, the second-ranked player in the world, recovered from a rough start with birdies on four of the last five holes to reach 3 under.

Email this page to a friend | Return to top of page