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CHANDLER'S CROSS, England -- The first two weeks in the British Isles
have been match play and sour memories for Tiger
Woods, whether it was a first-round loss at Wentworth or a
resounding loss to Europe in the Ryder Cup.
He returned to stroke play Thursday, and to the top of the leaderboard.
Woods took advantage of a soft course with slick, smooth greens for his
best start of the year, an 8-under 63 capped off by an eagle on the last
hole that gave him a one-shot lead over Padraig
Harrington and Ian Poulter in
the World Golf Championships-American Express Championship.
"I made a couple of putts and got things rolling and got the momentum on
my side, and just kept rolling, Woods said.
He finished with his best shot of the day. On the 567-yard closing hole
at The Grove, which is uphill and played into a breeze, he hammered a
driver down the middle and followed with a 3-wood from 267 yards that
landed 20 feet from the cup.
Stewart Cink had momentum on his side, too. He hammered Sergio Garcia in Sunday singles at the Ryder Cup, then watched more
putts drop on his way to a 6-under 65 that left him tied with Ernie Els.
Woods matched his best score of the year. He also shot 63 in the final
round of the Deustche Bank Championship outside Boston on Labor Day, his
fifth consecutive victory. The winning streak ended two weeks ago at the
HSBC World Match Play Championship at Wentworth, although it was a
European Tour event that does not count in PGA Tour records.
Woods lost in the first round there. A week later at the Ryder Cup, he
had his first winning record (3-2), but it wasn't nearly enough to keep
the Europeans from another 18 1/2-9 1/2 victory over the Americans.
As well as he played Thursday on his own, Woods was defensive about his
play at The K Club in Ireland. Had the Ryder Cup been a stroke-play
event over five days, he said he did well enough that he would have
finished 15th or better.
"I only had one bad day, which was Saturday morning," he said of a
fourballs loss with Jim Furyk. "Other
than that, I actually played pretty darn good. I'm only in control of
five points, and I got three of five. I did the best I could. I could
have holed more putts, certainly, but overall, I thought I played pretty
solid."
There was no doubting that on a cool afternoon at The Grove, a new
course just north of London that Woods played for the first time during
a practice round Wednesday. Already, it feels like home.
This didn't come as a surprise to Cink.
"When you play the practice rounds, you know the course sets up well for
him," Cink said. "The longer hitters are going to have a big advantage
because the fairways are wide in some areas. And Tiger, it's his kind of
place with softer greens. They might as well just change the course's
name to 'Tiger Woods.' It's a prefect course for him."
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