Tiger Woods pulls in a humble 70 in the opening round of Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship
Although it turned out to be a humble two-under, 70 on the opening day of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, Tiger Woods successfully avoided any bogeys on the 18-hole stretch and is more than confident of his fine form.
Starting off from back nine, Woods played most of the nine holes even-par and refrained from taking any unnecessary risks during the day.
He missed on a few putts, including a possible eagle, but did not lose his patience and made the turn with just one birdie on par-four, 2nd.
According to Woods, he "Hit the ball well all day today. It was a good ball-striking round".
Woods also observed, "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 former world number one is making his debut at the Middle Eastern turf after he decided to start his season on the European Tour.
He has been criticised for moving away from his home tour event, the Farmer’s Insurance Open on PGA Tour, being played at his favourite hunting ground, Torrey Pines, where he has won six times.
The opening day, however, was not as promising as it should have been considering Woods’ current form.
He brought an end to his two-year long winless streak at the closing event, Chevron World Challenge on the PGA.
He performed brilliantly at the end of the year as well, pulling in a joint third at Australian Open.
He faltered in his approach shots and missed a birdie putt on the 18th, his ninth, from mere six feet. He also missed several 25 to 30 footers, battling the thick roughs.
The 14-major-winner is poised at number 25 on the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR) after his disappointing fall out of the top-50 the previous year.
Woods added, "They are grainy enough where I just didn't quite read them right, and I hit them good, and then the grain would take it, not take it. It was just difficult".
Woods is paired with what can be conveniently regarded as the most sought after pairing in the event and is playing alongside Rory McIlroy, and world number one Luke Donald.
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