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Tiger Woods battles to
round of 73
Favorite Tiger Woods, who
lost his ball at the opening hole on his way to a triple-bogey seven, produced
a roller-coaster two-over-par 73 in the British Open first round on Thursday.
The 2000 champion, appearing
strangely out of sorts, collected four birdies but also mixed in three consecutive
bogeys from the par-four 12th as he struggled to build any momentum at a breezy
Royal St George's.
The world number one, bidding
this week for his ninth career major, was erratic with his driving and not as
precise as usual with his approach play in the tugging winds on the Kent coastline.
Woods, without a major title
to defend for the first time in almost four years, got off to a miserable start,
pushing his tee shot right into thick rough at the 442-yard first.
He was unable to locate
the ball after the maximum five minutes allowed, and had to return to the first
tee in a buggy to play his third shot.
Again, he drove into the
same area of right rough, from where he had to hack out across the fairway.
The 27-year-old American
then hit a fine approach to 20 feet, but two-putted for an ugly opening seven.
The heavily-contoured fairways
at the opening hole are among the most testing on the course, and twice champion
Greg Norman said before the start of the tournament he expected only 20 percent
of the field to hit the fairway off the tee.
Woods had to get up and
down to save par at the 418-yard second, where he again pushed his tee shot right,
and narrowly missed holing a 30-foot birdie putt at the par-three third.
But he was noticeably relieved
after picking up a shot at the par-five fourth, where he split the fairway with
his drive, hit his second just short of the green and holed out from six feet
to collect his first birdie of the day.
He reached the turn in two-over
38 and, despite collecting another birdie at the 10th, where he rifled his approach
to five feet, lost further ground with a run of three bogeys from the 12th.
However, he hit back with
long putts for birdie on 15 and 16, and two pars to finish left him at two over
for the day.
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