Tiger's ball striking starting to pop, but putting still lack-luster

Tiger's ball striking starting to pop, but putting still lack-luster

Tiger Woods matched his best ball-striking round in ages with one of his worst days of putting at the Victoria Golf Club yesterday. As a result of this contradictory performance, he signed for a two-under-par 69 when he felt it could easily have been 65.

Still, the world No.2 should be well satisfied with the opening of his defence of the $1.5 million Australian Masters title. Chased around the course by several thousand spectators, Woods departed to the privacy of Lloyd Williams's private Capital club nearby for some work on his putting stroke, as well as a clinic for some corporate folk.

He will begin today four shots from the lead held by Victorians Alistair Presnell and Daniel Gaunt and South Australia's Adam Bland.

A stiff northerly and 32-degree heat are on the way, meaning the challenge is about to ramp up.

''I felt pretty good,'' Woods said after carding three birdies and a bogey in superb conditions. ''That was probably the highest score I could have shot today. I mean, I really played well, hit a lot of good shots and I gave myself a bunch of looks early for birdie. Every putt was hit a little bit shy, not quite hard enough to hold the pace. I tried to be a bit more committed coming in. I tried to hit the putts a little harder but still kept leaving them short.''

The good news for Woods, who is remodelling his swing, is that he missed just two fairways and two greens all day. These are numbers that suggest he will be profoundly dangerous this weekend.

''The only bogey I made was a three-putt [on the 12th]. I was hitting the ball on my lines but I was not hitting them hard enough. They were dying in front of the lip. I tried to be more committed coming in, tried to get that ball to the hole or past the hole, and even still on nine I left it seven feet short. I need to do more work on that tomorrow.''

He had 33 putts for the day, complaining that the greens were not as quick as he was reading them. ''It was just they looked faster to me than they were actually putting. I kept leaving myself in all the spots where I was going back uphill. I was hitting my irons well enough to leave myself in good spots. They were slow up the hill but pretty quick coming down. I just didn't make the adjustment.''

But Woods rated his ball-striking as his most consistent for a full round since he and new coach Sean Foley started making changes several months ago. The former world No.1 has been complaining that his play is streaky. Yesterday he flushed it all day, notably at the long par-five 17th, where he reached the green with driver (smashed 15 metres past playing partner Robert Allenby's ball) and two-iron. This was his high point, along with a silky short iron to the par-three fourth that spun to a stop just 2m from the flag.

His driver came out only three times; even with fairway metal shots or irons off the tee, he found he needed no more than six-irons to the greens at Victoria, ''and I can spin the ball plenty from there''. Conservatism ruled; at the two driveable par-fours, the first and the 15th, he stung irons off the tee.

''Tricky'', was his description of the course. ''I've just got to be patient. Today could have easily been four-, five-, six-under-par. But I'm right there. I'm only four back as of now. I'm right there. I have not hit the ball like this the first round. I hit it pretty good last week in China, the first round, but not like this. I hit it pretty good today. If I could have hit a few putts a little harder, it could have been a really good round.

''I'm plodding along, trying to get myself there. It's a process, and you certainly can't win on the first day, but you can lose it. I know what to do. I know how to win golf tournaments.''