Fog cuts short Tiger's return to action

A soupy fog made Tiger Woods wait four hours before he could tee off Thursday in the Buick Invitational at San Diego.

Then, a mixture of sun, clouds, drizzle and rain caused him to change clothes seven times over nine holes. Worse, he hit only two fairways and muffed two chips by the time the first round was suspended.

This isn't how he envisioned his return to the PGA Tour.

Out of competition for two months because of knee surgery, Woods showed a little rust and a lot of frustration in the two hours he spent on soggy Torrey Pines. He was at 1 under par and will return today to play a shot from under a tree in the rough.

Welcome back, Tiger.

"On a bright, sunny day like today? Oh yeah," he deadpanned.

Aaron Oberholser was at 6 under par through 16 holes, although none of the 156 players completed the round. The delays totaled four hours because of fog that made it difficult to see a couple of par 3s along the Pacific Ocean.

Among Memphis-area golfers, Doug Barron was 2 under through 15 holes, Vance Veazey was 1 over through 16 holes, and Shaun Micheel was 3 over through 13 holes.

Even in the misty conditions, fans saw what they wanted - the world's No. 1 player back at work.

The gallery crammed around the first tee and stood elbow-to-elbow on a clubhouse balcony to get a glimpse of Woods, who had surgery Dec. 12 on his left knee.

It took awhile to see the kind of play they were expecting. His opening tee shot was still climbing into the white shroud when Woods extended his right arm and yelled, "Fore!" as his ball sailed into the trees.

Woods didn't appear to have any problem with his left knee, even crouching for a long time to study the line of his putts.

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