Sports: Woods stays positive despite 3-over 73

[AP photo]
Tiger Woods shows his frustration on the 18th tee. "If I just eliminate (my mistakes) I'd be under par."

But clearly, the Woods of the past two months is not the Woods who won his fourth consecutive major championship in April.

For the fifth straight tournament, Woods failed to break par in the opening round, putting himself in a major hole, nine shots behind PGA Championship leader Grant Waite.

"I didn't hit the ball very good and I didn't make that many putts," said Woods, whose 3-over-par 73 Thursday at Atlanta Athletic Club included three three-putt greens and two double bogeys.

Woods, tied for 100th, went to the driving range afterward to work out his problems.

But for now, said David Duval, we should view Woods' problems as those that are part of golf.

"Maybe the ball is getting into the rough a couple more times than it did a year ago and we all know you can't play out of the rough in these events," said Duval, who played with Woods on Thursday and beat him by seven strokes. "A couple of putts might not be going in that have (in the past). It's just golf. The guy is in a tough spot because he's not winning every week. He's getting crucified.

"It's just a very tough game to stay on top of for years and years at a time. We expect his greatness to last longer than other people's. But he's going to have down times, too."

Having won his first major championship last month at the British Open, Duval knows how draining the pursuit of those titles can be. He thinks that maybe Woods is suffering from a letdown.

"If it was me, my biggest goal this year would have been to win the Masters and to get that fourth in a row," Duval said of Woods' quest to hold all four majors at once. "I think that it takes a lot out of you and I can now tell you from experience. It just beats you up. It really wears you out. ... I think that was his biggest focus and it took a lot out of him. That's my guess."

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