Sport
Tiger Woods off to a solid start at Pebble Beach
Woods only missed two fairways, but they cost him, a bogey on the 13th, failing to make birdie on the par-5 14th. Even so, what really bothered him was his wedge play.
From the middle of the fairway on the 18th, his wedge went over the green, leaving him a tough chip that he nestled down to 3 feet for par. Still, it was a lost opportunity.
One of his two bogeys was sloppy. It came on the short par-4 fourth, with a shallow green set among sand dunes and ice plant at a diagonal angle. Instead of going toward the middle of the green and letting the slope take the ball to the hole, Woods went at the flag. The ball bounced hard over the green and into a sandy patch of dunes, in a foot print.
He did well to blast a wedge some 30 feet past the hole and had a good two-putt from there for bogey.
“I drove it great today,” Woods said. “I drove it on a string. I had it going both ways. Unfortunately, going into the greens, I was not very good at all. I had some wedges and hit some awful golf shots. So I’m going to work on that.”
Even so, he was in good position.
Woods shot 73 the last time he played Spyglass Hill in 2002, and his average score in six appearances was a 71. He was tied for 15th, a solid start in a tournament that unfolds slowly over three courses, and only three players had a lower score at Spyglass Hill.
Pebble Beach and Spyglass Hill are par 72s. Monterey Peninsula is a par 70.
