Tiger sizzles in Miami
2006-03-03 08:47
Miami - Tiger Woods took his first step toward defending his Ford Championship title - and perhaps improving his tournament record - as he grabbed the first-round lead on Thursday with a sizzling 64.
Woods took full advantage of the benign conditions at Doral's Blue Monster, nabbing eight birdies in his eight-under effort to take a one-shot lead over Rich Beem, Ryan Palmer and Colombia's Camilo Villegas.
The conditions were so favourable that the field averaged 70.4 strokes, the lowest tournament average since the PGA Tour started keeping records in 1983. Woods wouldn't mind seeing the Blue Monster bare its teeth.
"Anytime you get receptive and smooth greens and no wind, the guys are going to go low," Woods said. "I think it's a wonderful course. I would just like to see it hard and fast, because it makes it a lot more challenging to try and keep the ball in the fairway and on the greens."
Woods, who has hit less than half the fairways on tour this year, was much more accurate on Thursday, missing only three.
His strong play off the tee allowed him to attack the pins. Only one of his birdies, a chip-in from 25 feet at the par-four 15th, didn't come from close range, and he could have gone even lower with a little luck on the greens.
"Some of the things I've been working on are starting to come together," Woods said. "I played like this at La Costa (at the WGC Match Play). The only difference is today I made putts."
Woods shot 24-under to beat Mickelson by one stroke last year.
Fiji's Vijay Singh overcame a slow start to shoot 67, while Spain's Sergio Garcia, coming of a three-week break, almost aced his final hole en route a 69.
Singh said playing two European Tour events in Abu Dhabi and Doha, sandwiched between US Tour events in Hawaii and California, had already left him feeling flat.
"That was a bad move," Singh said of the tiring travel. "I was really ready to play (at the start of the year), but going to the Middle East for two weeks and coming back, I threw everything away.
"When you arrive, the first week you're just getting used to the time difference and then you come back here and do the same thing. It was a good trip, but it was very tiring on my body and I think I wasted three weeks."
South Africa's Retief Goosen finished with a 70 and Ernie Els with a disappointing 72.