By Rahul Banerji
Tiger Woods shrugged off three straight bogeys at the start to end the day as joint leader on 6-under par 64 on the opening day of the inaugural $9.75 million Zozo Championship in Chiba, Japan, on Thursday.
US Open winner Gary Woodland was alongside Woods, who is looking for a record-equalling 82nd PGA Tour win to tie Sam Snead’s all-time record.
They were one shot ahead of local hero Hideki Matsuyama, a winner of the Hero World Challenge, which Tiger hosts every year in the Bahamas.
Playing for the first time since knee surgery in August, Woods looked pain-free as he brought in nine birdies over the last 14 holes to share the lead at a PGA Tour event for the first time since last year’s Tour Championship.
Surging crowds
On a cool and cloudy day at the par-70, 7041-yard Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club in Chiba, Tiger dropped shots on his first three holes before bringing his game back on track in stunning fashion in front of frenzied crowds.
Catch it all here at The Zozo Championship
“It was just one of those crazy days,” Tiger said later. “I wasn’t expecting to shoot a six under par after that start. It was ugly early, but it was nice to be able to flip it and really get it going.
“Now I’m in a position where we’re going to have a long, long weekend of a lot of golf that hopefully I can keep it going.”
Matsuyama had the lowest score of nine players from Japan in the field with his 65 while 2019 FedExCup champion Rory McIlroy (T47) opened with a 2-over 72 in his first round of the 2019-20 season.
But the day was all about Woods and his 64 was a career-best low round to open a season. It was also his best 18 holes on the PGA Tour since hitting a first-round 62 on the opening day of the 2018 BMW Championship.
Solid stats
A suggestion of Tiger’s form and focus come from the fact that he hit 14 green in regulation in a row after the horror start that saw him drop three shots in as many holes including a first tee shot into the water.
“I’m just trying to turn it to even par at the turn, that’s just basically my goal, and I was able to get one more out of it, squeeze one more out of it,: he said.
“After the start, the ball striking was better. The putting was really good. I was hitting a lot of good putts and the ball’s rolling tight, which was nice. One of the stranger rounds I’ve experienced in a while.”
In 23 years as a professional, Tiger has won seven times previously in his first start of the season – 1997 Sentry Tournament of Champions, 2000 Sentry Tournament of Champions, 2003 Buick Invitational, 2006 Buick Invitational, 2007 Buick Invitational, 2008 Buick Invitational, and 2013 Farmers Insurance Open.
Extra incentive
So it’s been a while since the 43-year-old has started off with a title and Woods will be hungry to get his name along that of Snead on the all-time Tour winner’s list. As an incentive on the day, he birdied every par-3 on the course.
Added Woodland, who already has one top-10 in the new season, “I played well from top to bottom. I drove the ball well, and anytime I can control the ball on the greens from the fairway and make some putts, that adds up to a pretty good day.
“But I rode some momentum off the way I finished last weekend (in Korea), which
helped, and looking forward to the rest of the week. To be honest with you, I
think after the US Open, I was riding that short game so hard and I worked so
hard on the short game and I kind of lost ball striking a little bit.”
For third-placed Matsuyama, who finished tied third at Korea last week and is the highest ranked player from Japan in the Official World Golf Rankings at 27th, it was a day of playing in his comfort zone.
“I am happy with my score. I felt comfortable playing in this event in Japan. I was excited that fans were calling out my name so it surely became my motivation.
“We don’t normally get such big crowds here. The grass here differs from that in US but as I grew up in Japan, it was comfortable for me to play with that. I am just one stroke behind the leader so I think I am standing in a good position. Tomorrow I need to minimize my mistakes and need to keep myself going.”
Also read: Game of Numbers: Will it be 16/82 for Tiger Woods?
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