Tiger Woods needed a late charge to rally from a double and three bogeys early to finsh the first day of the Quail Hollow Championship with a 2-over 74, nine shots behind leader Bo Van Pelt, who opened with a 65. Playing military golf all morning – left-right-left-right – and splashing several balls in the water, Woods’s clearly rusty long game left him tied for 94th.
As Golf.com’s Gary Van Sickle noted in his recap:
“I had a two-way miss going all day, which was great,” Woods said later, showing some sarcasm. “I didn’t hit the ball very good at all. Two balls in the water and pretty much struggled all day. I had a lot of issues trying to figure out where my balls were going to go. I hit a bunch of balls left, a bunch of balls right and a few down the middle. That was about it.”
The new and relaxed Woods? Well, maybe it was one of those days that all you can do is laugh it off. Woods was frustrated, obviously, but when asked if he was going to the range to try to solve his swing issues, he said, “I’m not going to the range today. Hell with it.”
You know it’s a tough day for the former icon when you get beat by the likes of Bill Lunde, (should he be sledding in the winter Olympics?), Jimmy Walker, (shouldn’t he be saying “Dy-no-MITE!”), and Chez Reavie, (Wasn’t that where Rick and Ilsa hung out before Rick’s Cafe Americain?).
As we go to press, Camilo Villegas and Kenny Perry are tied for second at 5-under. Kenny Perry, Paul Goydos, and Geoff Ogilvy finished with -4 68s. Masters champion Phil Mickelson was also 4-under through 15 holes.
