Woods way off pace at AT&T National
Four players were tied for the lead after the first round of the AT&T National at Aronimink yesterday - but Tiger Woods, defending champion and former host of this event, was not among them.
In fact Woods was seven strokes off the pace, on a day when even by his own admission, his putting went badly awry.
Woods trailed the early leaders Arjun Atwal (pictured), Joe Ogilvie, Jason Day and Nick Watney, who all finished on four-under-par, and if the world No. 1 can't improve on yesterday's three-over today, he may even find himself missing another cut. His current standing here is a tie for 81st place, after he shipped three bogeys - and a double on the 17th, his tee shot rolling off the green to end up in the water.
"I hit it good all day and just let my round get away from me," he admitted in a television interview, adding: "I just putted awful, really, nothing was going in. It was a very frustrating day on the greens, especially how good I was driving it."
The US-based Indian Atwal carded seven birdies but the addition of three bogeys to his scorecard meant he couldn't put any distance between himself and the other three co-leaders. Ogilvie managed five birdies and a bogey to claim his spot at the top, as did Day, while Watney was the only player in that top quartet to card a flawless four birdies and no bogeys.
Besides the under-performing Woods, there was a serious lack of star power at this tournament, with many of Europe's top golfers preferring to tee it up in Paris at the French Open. The Swede Carl Pettersson was the highest ranked European player, tied for fifth place on three-under.
The often-tipped Rickie Fowler was still in the hunt at the end of the first day's play too, tying for 19th place on one-under - the same score England's Justin Rose carded.
But Woods wasn't the only big name who came a cropper, with last year's PGA Championship winner, Korea's YE Yang only able to come home five-over with two double bogeys and three bogeys.
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