Golf

Woods plays follow 6 leaders

Tiger Woods, vying for his third major of the year, digs a deep hole at the PGA with his worst opening round in a major. And those he's chasing couldn't be happier.

By BOB HARIG
Published August 12, 2005

SPRINGFIELD, N.J. - The countries represented are diverse, as are the ages of the participants. They are young and old, fast and slow. The top of the leaderboard shows major champions and tour neophytes and just about everything in between.

Only Tiger Woods is missing.

On a day that saw an abundance of under-par scores - if not real low ones - on the Lower Course at Baltusrol Golf Club, the world's No. 1-ranked player and overwhelming favorite to win a third major championship this year could do no better than 75.

It was his worst opening-round score in relation to par at a major and put him eight strokes behind the leaders.

"If you're looking for me to shed a tear, it's not going to happen," joked Phil Mickelson, one of six players tied for the lead at 67, 3 under par.

"I think there's plenty of guys happy to see him down the leaderboard for a change," said Australia's Stuart Appleby, also tied for the lead. "I don't think you're going to get some, "Oh, I'm so sorry, what a pity.' "

Woods' misfortune is perhaps an opportunity for the rest of the field. Only once in his 44 PGA Tour victories has Woods shot an opening round over par.

That came at the Masters in April, where he had 74 but made up seven strokes over the final 54 holes to tie Chris DiMarco, then defeated him in a playoff. Here, Woods was tied for 113th.

Mickelson, 35, and Appleby, 34, were joined at the top by 2003 British Open champion Ben Curtis, 28, South Africa's Trevor Immelman, 25, South Africa's Rory Sabbatini, 29, and Trinidad and Tobago's Stephen Ames, 41.

Another shot back were 11 players, including former major-winners Steve Elkington, Bernhard Langer, Davis Love and Retief Goosen. There were 27 players under par. Defending champion Vijay Singh shot 70.

"The scoring conditions are perfect, but it just goes to show there are 18 really strong holes on this golf course," said Immelman, a three-time winner on the European PGA Tour. "Any one of them can bite you at any time."

The easiest hole on the course bit Woods. The par-5 18th, which 67 players birdied, caused Woods trouble as he hit an errant tee shot into the trees that embedded inside a hazard line, causing him to take a drop. That led to bogey, his third on the back nine (his first nine), and his worst score since the final round of the Players Championship in March.

"Today was a grinding day," Woods said. "It took a lot of mental energy out of me to try and stay that patient, that calm and that focused with the way I started out. I could have easily lost it and packed it in and gone home."

Perhaps as big of a surprise as Woods' struggles was the 67 shot by Curtis, who has had very little success since winning the British Open two years ago at Royal St. George's.

Curtis became the first player in 90 years to win a major in his first attempt, but he has had a tough time proving it was not a fluke. He has had just two top 10s since, one a third at the Western Open in June.

"It changed my life forever," Curtis said. "I just tried to go out there, day by day, and improve and do better and be a better person each day. When you win a tournament like that, there's added pressure on you. I tried not to let anything bother me, but obviously there's stuff that does. Every golfer goes through a rough time in their career and I went through it the last year or so."

Things have not gone well for Mickelson since he won the BellSouth Classic in April, his third victory of the year. His best finish since is a tie for seventh at the Wachovia Championship. And he has not been a factor at any of the majors, his best a 10th at the Masters.

But using the type of tee shot that served him so well during his 2004 Masters victory, Mickelson played the last 10 holes in 4 under par. Mickelson, a left-hander, used a soft fade to perfection at Augusta National last year. He said he is trying to employ the same shot this week.

"I have a little bit different feeling heading into this tournament than I've had in some of the others," Mickelson said. "I feel a lot more confident in my game than I did heading into the other majors. I really want to put everything into finishing off the year right here at the PGA."

And it doesn't hurt that everybody's nemesis, Woods, is well behind.

[Last modified August 12, 2005, 00:47:15]