'Pathetic' Putting Takes a Toll on Woods

Despite Woes, Woods Shoots 71, 4 Behind Stenson

MIAMI, March 22 -- When Tiger Woods began the first round of the $8 million CA Championship at Doral with back-to-back birdies Thursday, it looked as if it was simply more of his same old mastery over this Blue Monster golf course and in this World Golf Championship event for the No. 1 player in the world.

After all, Woods has won the past two regular PGA Tour tournaments on this newly toughened venue, and also has won five of the first seven CA events on five courses in four different countries. He's been particularly formidable in WGC competition, with 12 victories in 23 starts since the elite limited-field series began in 1999, earning champions checks totaling $15.8 million.

But on a gloomy day of spitting rain and stiff, palm-swaying breezes, Woods was unable to sustain that early excellence, mostly because of putting woes that began last week at Bay Hill in Orlando. Still, despite his problems on greens, Woods managed an opening round of 1-under 71, and was only four shots off the lead of 5-under 67 posted by Swedish sensation Henrik Stenson, winner of the WGC World Match Play title last month in Tucson. Also at 5 under was Australian veteran Robert Allenby, who has five top 10 finishes in seven starts this year.

Thomas Bjorn of Denmark was a shot behind at 68, and three players -- Jose Maria Olazabal of Spain, Aaron Baddeley of Australia and American Charles Howell III, already off to the best start of his career, were tied for fourth place.

"Pathetic," was Woods's pithy description of his putting on a day when he started his round on No. 10 and had eight putts of 12 feet or less, missing every one, including an eight-footer at No. 16, an eight-footer at No. 3, a five-footer at No. 7 and a nine-footer at No. 9, his final frazzling hole of the day.

Doral resurfaced all of its greens since Woods won here at the old Ford Championship with a 20 under par total in 2006. Two years ago, he won the event in a tournament-record 24 under. Woods admitted afterward the new putting surfaces were a major part of his problem in needing 32 putts to get around, even if he did hit 14 of 18 greens in regulation.

"It's just weird out there," he said. "I putt a lot by memory and what I've done here over the years. A couple of putts did the exact opposite than what they used to do. . . . It's just a little difficult for me to pick up. It's bad enough when greens are new. . . . You have to hit great putts on each and every hole, and if you misread it, so be it."

Woods's best work came early on his first hole, the 551-yard 10th, when he hit a wedge within 18 inches of the cup and made the birdie putt -- "a great putt . . . fantastic," he facetiously described it afterward.

At the 402-yard 11th, he had his best effort of the day, sinking a 30-footer for birdie that got him off to a flying start. The next 16 holes weren't so kind.

Wind gusts of about 30 mph made for some adventures for several in the field. Australian Adam Scott, No. 4 in the world rankings, made a 10 at the 10th hole with two shots in the water and finished with a 76, staying semi-respectable with four birdies on the back nine. Phil Mickelson, ranked No. 3, had back-to-back double bogeys at the third and fourth holes, posted 5-over 41 on the front nine and came in with a 77, his worst round of the 2007 season by three shots, though he did birdie the tough 467-yard 18th.

Allenby played in the same group with Woods and had no problem with the new greens. He needed only 24 putts to get around the 7,266-yard Monster, including a dozen one-putt greens that bailed him out from hitting only five fairways and 11 greens in regulation.

"When it's blowing 20 to 25 miles an hour in your face, it's hard to control it," Allenby said. "I just tried to hit three-quarter shots pretty much most of the way in and really stay in control with the shots I hit. Keep them under the wind and not allow it to affect them too much. . . . Putting is such a fine movement, it's very hard when the wind is gusting like that to stay still and keep focus. We're talking millimeters, so you have to stay dead still. You've got to really plant yourself in, pick a line and hit it."

Stenson also had a decent day on the greens, needing only 26 putts, with 10 one-putt greens and seven birdies on his card. Two years ago, he was ranked 145th in the world, but this year he has pushed up to No. 5 since winning in the Match Play. Three weeks earlier, he won in Dubai (his primary residence) on the European Tour, beating Ernie Els by one and Woods by two when he made a clutch birdie at the 72nd hole.

Stenson had never played Doral until his first nine-hole practice round on Tuesday, and he said that may have been an advantage. Unlike Woods, he had no recollection of the way the greens used to be and was able to putt relatively stress-free, save for the wind, "when your pants are flapping and the putter feels like it wants to go all over the place.

"For me, it's probably easier than for some of the other guys because I've never played here before," he said. "It's always tricky when you have some memories of how the greens are going to slope. . . . A lot of times you have old memories, you know it's supposed to break off in a certain direction and you're on the green and it doesn't. In a way, it's better not to have played on them before."