2010 Chevron World Challenge: The real Tiger Woods finally stands tall
The first round of 2010 Chevron World Challenge has been quite a pleasant surprise for the world number two, Tiger Woods. The American fired a round of eight birdies on the Sherwood Country Club to declare a lead of one stroke on Graeme Mc Dowell and Rory
Mc Ilroy.
With $5 million on offer, the first round of Chevron World Challenge kicked off on Thursday. Tiger stepped on the first tee at 11.10am with Steve Stricker and reeled four birdies on the front.
Tiger used his driver, long irons and 3-woods on the fairways after a long time. That symbolised confidence and Tiger used it well on catching birdies at the 449-yard, par-4 seventh and par-4 ninth. Why would not he be confident? The player grew up while
teeing a few miles from Sherwood and seized fourth spot in JB Were Masters, a fortnight back. Good memories tolled around in the mind of the former world number one, which made his swings accurate.
The 34-year-old shared some light chat with Ian Poulter, who was in a fiery mood. The American discussed soccer with the world number eight, who is a die-hard fan of Manchester United. At one place, one of the caddies standing nearby popped a question as
to who would host the World Cup soccer tournament to which Tiger replied, ‘Brazil.’
The winner of fourteen majors had been getting the answers to many unsolved riddles lately. He was happy that his hard work finally paid off. Commenting on his swings, Woods said, "Yeah, I played good today. I really striped it; hit a lot of good shots."
The 34-year-old walked towards the back nine, with a sigh of relief. The player rolled some perfect swings on the first two holes, but missed a cut towards right on the par-3 12th.However, the second shot towards the green saved the scorecard
from a bogey but the player himself fell backwards in reaction to the push and started laughing.
Tiger realizes his achievement and said, "It's not too often you can say 'I shot 65 and made only one putt, but that's kind of what I did today. That is something that earlier, when I was first working with Sean, I could not do. I know what the fixes are."
The real Tiger Woods came back on the back nine and picked three more birdies, but missed a putt on the 18th hole. Despite the loss, Tiger surged into lead, pushing Mc Dowell a stroke behind. The Irish is the defending champion from last year's
event, when Tiger had to take a withdrawal because of an accident.
On his way to the clubhouse, the world number two stopped by the fans and gave them autographs. He could not help smiling, for he knew that he did a good job. A woman came forward to shake Tiger’s hand but the veteran, who lost his wife because of infidelity,
refused to do it. Instead, he told her that he was sick and she should not come near him.
The day ended with Tiger Woods in the lead with a loss of one hole, whereas, rest of the field failed to perform well except for G- Mac, Rory, Stewart, and Dustin. The tournament has $1.2 million on the offer for the winner and if Tiger wins the title, he
will automatically recapture his throne. Tiger lost his rank on 31st October to Lee Westwood after retaining it for 287 weeks. A single victory can get him back to the top, provided he does not repeat his mistakes again, including the change of
swings at the last moment.
Tags: