Rory McIlroy grabs early lead at the opening round of Abu Dhabi Golf Championship: Live Leaderboard Part-2
Playing for the first time in Abu Dhabi, Woods had to spent time in an attempt to know the course and how it would behave to his drives off the tee.
Woods said: "I just had a hard time getting a feel for these greens. It was difficult and my speed was off."
Woods, McIlroy and world number one Luke Donald are paired in the same group, luring in huge crowds throughout the day. Donald also had a lacklustre day when he was able to card just two birdies and lost one for a bogey at par-three, 7th.
He is still playing for the last two holes on the front nine.
World number one is tied with six other players for the 10th spot, including the grizzled K.J Choi, Colin Montgomerie, Oliver Fisher, Richard Finch, Wen-Chong Liang, and Ricardo Gonzalez. The Players champion, Choi carded three birdies and dropped
one shot on the front nine to settle for one-under, 71.
Donald said: "It was fun to be part of that threesome - Tiger and Rory are huge names in the world of sport”.
Montgomerie, the grizzled veteran in the English camp, had a disappointing start of the day, where he fell for a bogey on the opening hole. He carded four birdies in all and dropped three shots in the 18-hole stretch to fall behind.
Open champion Darren Clarke, who has decided to seek professional help to snap out of his form vows, made little difference on the leaderboard in the morning, pulling in just one birdie and losing it for a bogey.
Defending champion Martin Kaymer probably had the worst start of the day and the event, when he opened up his round to stumble on a disastrous double-bogey on the front nine.
He regained composure to maintain a level-par score for the next three holes, before falling for another bogey on par-four, 5th. He is now three over for the moment and still working through the remaining three holes on the front nine.
World number two Lee Westwood also started off on a disappointing note, falling for three birdies on the front. He has carded one birdie so far to lessen his loss in the morning and is still working through the front nine.
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