Tiger Woods will see action ahead of US Open

By Rahul Banerji

Tiger Woods will look to put away memories of a disappointing PGA Championship when he returns to action at the Memorial tournament in Ohio next week as a lead-up to the US Open next month.

“Ohio next week for the @MemorialGolf, then Pebble for the @usopengolf. Looking forward to getting out there again.” Tiger tweeted on Thursday, confirming he would not go into the year’s third major cold, as he had done at Bethpage between the Masters and the PGA Championship.

Woods, who is 20th in the FedExCup standings, is a repeat winner at the Memorial including three in a row between 1999 and 2001. His entry is an opportunity to tune up ahead of the US Open at California’s Pebble Beach.

Costly break?

After Augusta, Tiger took a four-week break to recover from his first major title in 11 years and according to the PGA Tour website, he also was ill at the PGA and only arrived at the course the day before the tournament.

“I’ve enjoyed being the Masters champion again, and the PGA was a quick turnaround, and unfortunately I just didn’t play well,” Tiger said later. “I didn’t do all the little things I need to do correctly to post good scores and put myself in position to shoot good scores.

“There’s no reason why I can’t get up to speed again and crank it back up. I’ve got to start feeling a little bit better first before that happens. We’ll do that first and then start cranking it back up again””

Up next for the 15-time major winner is Sam Snead’s all-time record of 82 PGA Tour wins and Muirfield Village will be hoping it happens there.

Steady start by Lahiri in Texas

In Fort Worth, Texas, Anirban Lahiri took a share of 13^th place after the first round of the Charles Schwab Challenge on Thursday. It was an eventful outing as he went 2-under par 68, four shots behind leader Tony Finau, who had a 6-under 64.

Jordan Spieth and Roger Sloan were tied for second at 5-under while Lahiri’s playing partner, Peter Uihlein, J.J. Henry, Scott Brown, Chesson Hadley, Jonas Blixt, Nick Watney, Trey Mullinax, Jimmy Walker, and Jason Dufner were all T4 at 3-under.

Lahiri found six of 14 fairways and hit 12 of 18 greens. His putting was sharper than it has been this season though it was his wrok with the irons that helped put a good number on the board.

Finau was chased all the way Spieth, winless for almost two years since the Open in July, 2017. Spieth’s best finish of the season was at the PGA Championship where his tied third place was his best finish this season.

“I know my game has been progressing. I’ve been saying that for the last month or six weeks or so. Results just end up coming when I actually start playing better golf. Simply put, that’s just what I’ve been doing,” Spieth said.

Defending champion Justin Rose was 4-over 74.

Also read: Rested and ready, says Tiger on PGA Championship eve