The Barclays - Round One

By Paul Mahoney
At Ridgewood County Club

A 65 and a share of the lead for Tiger Woods in the first round of The Barclays. While not quite a full on-course rehabilitation for the World No.1, this performance proved he hadn’t lost his golfing mojo so much as misplaced it amongst the fog of his marriage break-up. This was Woods’ lowest round of the year and his first in the 60s since the first round of the British Open 11 tournaments ago.

Three more rounds like this and Woods will certainly advance to the second round of the FedExCup Playoffs and prove to US Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin that he has got his game back in time to receive a wild card pick for the matches in Wales in October. Is he going to telephone Pavin to make sure his captain knows how well he played? “No,” Woods said with a wry smile. But he’d like his captain to know about his 65, right? “It might be on some highlight on TV somewhere,” Woods said. Sixty-five shots, 6 under par. It’s the best message he could send out to Pavin.

Woods teed off in the first threeball of the day at 7.30am. Woods said he got out of bed at 3.50am. There were a couple of hundred sleep-deprived New Jersey golf fans waiting to greet him. Two of them were drinking beer. Maybe they were still going strong from the night before and hadn’t actually been to bed yet. First hole: 3-wood, pitching wedge to 15 feet, birdie. By the time Woods got to the 10th in 31 strokes, his gallery had grown to several hundred. It was business as usual. A Tiger roar greeted him up the 18th as his 7-iron almost pitched in. The bleachers were packed at 11.30am. Birdie from 10 feet and a little fist pump.

Woods had bags under his eyes on Wednesday and spoke sadly. On Thursday, the sparkle was back and he was even happy to sit and take more questions after his press conference. The amount of times that has happened in the past 10 years can be counted on one finger. He even signed a few autographs moving between TV interviews outside the locker room. The new approachable Tiger? Time, and a few 75s, will tell.

Only one question referred back to his private life. Do you feel a weight has been lifted off your shoulder? “I can’t really say that’s the case,” Woods answered before shifting the subject. “ Golf-wise, it was nice to put it together.” So, marriage broken; golf game glued back together. What needed fixing? “Backswing, downswing, throughswing,” Woods said smiling. “It was exciting to hit theball flush again,” he said. “Feels good.”