Tiger Woods happy with his putting despite over-par score on the opening day at Honda Classic – Golf News
Tiger Woods, who carded a one-over par 71 in the opening round of the Honda Classic at the PGA National Champion Course, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, looked pleased with his performance because of improvements in his putting.
Woods said that he did not score well on the first day. However, his performance on the greens was comparatively better than it was at last week’s Accenture Match Play Championship.
He lost to Nick Watney after missing an easy six-footer on the 18th, which could have forced the match to go into playoffs in a knockout format event.
On the contrary, his putting was relatively better at the Honda Classic, where he is seen for the first time in his career participating as a professional.
"I hit the ball a lot better than I scored and I certainly putted well but I didn't get hardly anything out of the round. Hopefully tomorrow will be better," he said.
He said that he hit plenty of putts that rolled over the edges several times. However, they failed to find a hole, which set him back with an over-par score in the end.
Nevertheless, his performance did not disappoint him, as he thinks he was hitting the ball reasonably well.
Woods mixed three birdies with four bogeys to finish seven strokes off the pace on the leaderboard.
"I hit good shots and unfortunately I just picked some bad lines," the 14-time major winner said.
He noted, "Also, I didn't get up-and-down either a couple of times, I blew those. So a round where I should have been probably two- or three-under par quickly turned into one-over".
Woods has not been able to register a win on the PGA Tour since his last victory that came in the 2009 BMW Championship.
Meanwhile, the US Ryder Cup team captain, Davis Love III, who levelled the course record of six-under par 64, finished atop the leaderboard with a two-stroke margin over seven players.
“I am just glad to be off to a good start," said Love, who carded a spectacular ace on par-three fifth.
Northern Ireland’s golfing sensation, Rory McIlroy, was among the seven players who tied for second after carding four-under par 66 in the opening round.
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