   
| Woods suffers through first birdie-free round in four years  PGATOUR.com Chief of Correspondents PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- He didn't make a birdie on Thursday during the first round of THE PLAYERS Championship. Not one, single, solitary one.  Tiger Woods shot 75 in Thursday's opening round. (WireImage)
So just when was the last time Tiger Woods played an entire round without a birdie? Try the first round of the 2003 U.S. Open at Olympia Fields where he went on to tie for 20th. Of course, that round included an eagle, so maybe it shouldn't count. Earlier that year, at Augusta National, though, Woods didn't cut himself any shots at all in a first-round 76 on the way to a share of 15th come Sunday. That works. Woods, who won the Wachovia Championship on Sunday, worked hard for his round of 75 on Thursday, too. His putter just betrayed him with a trio of three-putts, each coming on his second nine of the day, that accounted for the round of 3-over par. A sportswriter asked if any one of the three-putts was worse than the others. "I don't think I've ever had a three-putt that felt good," Woods said succinctly. THE PLAYERS is the only big event -- including the majors and World Golf Championships -- Woods hasn't won more than once. His lone victory came in 2001 and was preceded by a second and a tie for 10th. Those remain Woods' only top-10s at the TPC Sawgrass. He hasn't finished higher than 11th in the interim and his worst finish at THE PLAYERS Stadium Course was a share of 53rd in 2005. Woods will start the second round on the cut line -- even though his round of 75 was .413 lower than the average score on the wind-whipped Thursday. Precision is key on Pete Dye's signature course and gusts that approached 35 mph made it hard to hit your spots. "I enjoy this test," Woods said. "I mean, you have to place the golf ball. That's how Pete designed all of his golf courses. You've got to place the golf ball correctly, and if you don't there's going to be a consequence for it." Woods only hit six fairways and just half of the greens in regulation on Thursday, though. Those 31 putts didn't help, either, especially the birdie effort at the second hole that waivered in the wind. "I had one putt where the ball blew up the hill a little bit -- a right-to-left putt that blew uphill," Woods said. "(I) just got the wrong gust." Woods said the slopes on the greens have softened slightly, but the main difference is the miniverde Bermudagrass on the surface. Previously the greens were a combination of Bermuda and a strain of poa annnua. "The greens are new," Woods said. "They're not quite settled yet, and it's going to take a little time. If you put the ball in the correct spots and leave yourself uphill putts, you can be aggressive. When you're putting across slopes, it becomes a little more of a test."
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