Tiger Woods opens the Australian Masters with a 69
The Australian Masters is currently taking place at the Victoria Golf Club in Cheltenham, Australia. This event is scheduled to go on till 14th November, Sunday. Even though all the players take it as a tournament, The Australian Masters is very
dear to the ex-top cat of golf, Tiger Woods. This was the last tournament he won last year before his downfall started. If Tiger doesn’t win this weekend, he would have had a winless season since fifteen years. Surely a very disappointing thing for a golf
legend.
In his final title defence, Woods carded a 2-under 69 in the opening round. Starting his play at the 10th tee, he bogeyed the 12th hole and missed two birdie putts before missing a 30-foot eagle putt at the 17th and then
achieved a birdie. He only missed two greens in regulation, both times saving par from bunker. Taking 19 putts on his back nine, Woods had to hole a 7-foot par putt on the final hole to avoid a second three-putt bogey.
Woods was competing against known Australian players Robert Allenby and Brett Rumford and was four shots behind the leaders of the day Adam Bland Alistar Presnell. Both Presnell and Bland carded a 6-under-par 65 and took the lead. Australian Stuart Appleby
posted an even par 71 whereas the former US Open Champion Geoff Ogilvy finished the day with a 72.
After finishing his round, Woods said that he felt pretty good. "That was probably the highest score I could have shot today. I gave myself a bunch of looks early and every putt was hit a little bit shy. It was not quite hard enough to hold the pace. I tried
to be a little bit more committed coming in -- trying to hit the putts a little harder. Still, I was leaving them short,” said Tiger Woods.
As for the equipment, Tiger used a driver only on the par5’s. He alternated between 3-wood and 2-iron the same way he did a year ago at Kingston Heath. Wood’s previous victory at the Australian Masters was his first one down under and his 82nd
win all around the world.
Just twelve days after his win in Australia, Wood’s car crashed outside his Florida home revealing secrets about his extra marital affairs. Tiger said that he’s going to take this tournament as something he’s trying to win rather than just the end of a year
in which he ruined his marriage and his career.
His infidelity also cost him his number one spot. An honour that belonged to Woods for five years was finally taken from him last month by Lee Westwood. Following the Andalucía Masters, Westwood dethroned Woods from his position as number one leaving Tiger
in second place in the World Rankings. The World rankings are calculated by a points system and due to the declining form of the Tiger, it finally favoured Lee and hence he climaxed the rankings.
About his game today, Woods said that he hit the ball well all day. According to him, it’s all about getting committed to hit the ball a little harder on the putts. He thinks he was in the right spot, but they’re really slow up the hill and really quick
going down. Woods said he just didn’t make the adjustment. Despite his neutral view of his game, Tiger Woods gave a solid performance in the opening round.
Seeing how much he has at stake and how determined the Tiger is, there is a high chance that he’ll take the title again, but you never know. With so many great stars playing, nothing can be said as of right now.
The second round of the Australian Masters will be played on Friday and Tiger Woods will play in the afternoon.
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