Tiger Woods closes his bid for the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship on a strong note Part-1
Former world number one Tiger Woods pulled in another strong closing to the latest edition of the star-studded Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship when he closed the event, tied for the third.
Experiencing a resurgence in his form and putting, the 36-year-old is now poised on a trail to a strong comeback and many of the critics are now contemplating that the 14-major-winner will bag at least another major title this year, apart from his other
strong performances.
Woods decided to make his debut here at Abu Dhabi, where he has never played before and walked away from his favourite hunting ground, the Torrey Pines on PGA.
He has since been facing criticism for his apathy towards his home tour which will have to bear the burnt of his absence.
His decision to start off the current season from Abu Dhabi was primarily influenced by the heavy appearance fee of around $2 to $3-million paid by the title sponsors HSBC.
Woods opened up the first round with a humble two-under, 70 and was successful to the extent that he avoided any dreaded bogeys on the first day. He lamented his lack of knowledge for the alien course and said,
"Hit the ball well all day today. It was a good ball-striking round," Woods said. "I had a hard time reading the greens out there. The greens were pretty grainy and I just had a hard time getting a feel for it. Toward the end I hit some pretty good putts
but overall I got fooled a lot on my read”.
The Stanford graduate was paired with the other two top-ranked players in the world, Rory McIlroy and world number one Luke Donald and the pairing attracted huge chunks of crowd all through the opening round.
Friday being the local holiday, Abu Dhabi Golf Club attracted one of the record breaking turnout in the history with people from all races and nationalities visited the course to witness the showdown of the giants.
Woods played comparatively better than the second day and decided to let go of his defensive approach and pulled in some lofty swings to settle for three-under, 69 and an aggregate of five-under through the halfway mark.
He surged to a glorious six-under with consecutive birdies on 11th, 12th and 15th but a bogey on par-four, 15th pulled him down the leaderboard. He expressed his satisfaction over the second day’s proceedings and
said that he is now more accustomed to the course.
Woods said at the end of the second round, “I got more committed to (his putting lines). Once I read the green, I said just play it and trust it. Yesterday, a couple of times, I was at a distance where the green was changing and I said just be committed
to one grain”.
To be continued...
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