Tiger Woods Trails Phil Mickelson, Three Others by Six at CA Championship

DORAL, Fla., March 12 -- As Tiger Woods walked from the 16th green to the 17th tee Thursday, a man in the gallery bellowed, "Vamos, Tigre!" just as he passed by. The Spanish exhortation of "Let's go, Tiger!" evoked a slight smile from the No. 1 player in the world, but he never fully managed to get his game going in his first stroke-play event since he won the U.S. Open last June.

Woods gave occasional flashes of brilliance in the first round of the $8.5 million CA Championship on Doral's Blue Monster course, perhaps none better than his majestic 7-iron off the tee at the 175-yard 15th hole on his opening nine. The soaring shot landed with a soft thump on the putting surface and trickled to within a foot of the cup, leaving him a tap-in birdie, one of three on his card.

When play had finished on this warm, breezy afternoon, Woods's 1-under-par 71 left him six shots behind a group of four players that included three-time major champion Phil Mickelson, who chipped in for birdies on his final two holes on his way to a back-nine 30, and two-time U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen of South Africa, who had a run of six birdies in eight holes in the middle of his round.

Mickelson chipped in three times on the day, had nine birdies and needed only 20 putts, more than enough to offset a double bogey at the 438-yard third hole. His first chip into the cup also rescued a par on the very next hole after he splashed his tee shot into the water at the 236-yard No. 4.

"I felt going into this tournament I was playing as well as I have as far as I can remember," Mickelson gushed afterward. "From 50 yards in, my short game has never been this good, and I've never driven the ball this long and this straight without the fear of a big miss."

Despite Mickelson's spectacular play late in the day, most eyes, as usual, were focused on Woods, whose surgically repaired left knee had its first test in competition two weeks ago in the WGC's Match Play Championship outside Tucson. He won his first match there before losing in the second round to South African Tim Clarke.

"Getting in a competitive environment was good at Tucson," Woods said. "But here, you're just playing the golf course, which is nice, and just focus on my own game and just kind of plod my way along. . . . Now playing in stroke play, like [caddie Steve Williams] says, it feels like we just took three or four weeks off and here we are again."

The last time Woods posted 71 in the first round of this event, he came back to win the tournament at 10-under 278 in 2007, also his third straight victory at Doral. In his previous nine appearances in this tournament, which rotated venues before 2007, he has won six times, with three other top-10 finishes and $7.6 million in prize money.

Woods said he was pleased with his performance but also admitted he has to be "a touch sharper tomorrow," particularly on Doral's greens. He needed 28 putts, reached 11 of 18 greens in regulation and managed to hit just seven fairways.

"It was a little bit frustrating on those greens today," Woods said. "I hit so many putts that looked good. I thought I hit my lines and thought I had the right speed, but they just didn't go in. I'll just keep doing the same things. It was not like I was playing poorly or struggling all the way around. . . . If you continue hitting good putts, they will eventually go in."

Woods thought he hit the proper putt at the 245-yard 13th, his fourth hole of the round, after smacking his tee shot in a deep bunker in front of the green. He blasted to within six feet of the flag, but his par putt caught the right edge of the cup and lipped out for his first bogey of the day. His second came at No. 4 on his back nine, when he blocked a shot right that trickled into a pond. He took a drop, chipped to within two feet and made the putt for the only other blemish on his card.

Woods said it also helped to have his good friend, Canadian Mike Weir, playing in the same group. Weir also posted 71 and said he could see that Woods was "frustrated, just like me. We both had some opportunities to get under par. The ball seemed to hit a lot of lips for both of us, and we both felt some frustration. But he looked real good to me. He looked like he wasn't favoring his knee at all."

Another player in the group just ahead of Woods and Weir also looked good, in a different way, to his considerably smaller gallery.

At No. 3 on his own back nine, Henrik Stenson's tee shot ended up in a hazard but on a playable, muddy lie next to a pond. Stenson said he had no rain gear in his bag to protect his clothes from a mud bath, so the strapping Swede simply stripped down to his boxer undershorts, took off his shoes and socks and smacked the ball out to save a bogey in his 3-under 69.

"Just the way God created me -- shirt, trousers, socks, shoes, hat, the lot was off," Stenson said. "If you're saving a shot, that has to be worth taking your shirt and trousers off. I'm sure I'll hear a few comments and once the pictures get out, I'll hear a few more, no doubt. I don't think I scared too many spectators off the course, hopefully."