Tiger Woods found himself on the decidedly unfavorable side of the draw at the U.S. Open at Bethpage Black, but no such excuse can be made for the early hole he dug himself Thursday at Turnberry.
Wind was nonexistent and scoring conditions were optimal during day one at the Open Championship. Woods wound up with a one-over-par 71 during his morning round, while 59-year-old Tom Watson blistered Turnberry shooting a 5-under-par 65. Woods' 17-year-old playing partner Ryo Ishikawa bested the World No. 1 by three strokes.
"I certainly made a few mistakes out there today," Woods stated after his round. "The misses I had were the same shots I was hitting on the range. So I need to go work on that and get it squared away for tomorrow."
By day's end there will be a plethora of players between Woods and the leader, and judging from his opening round performance with his driver and woods, the 14-time major champion may be in for one of those week's where his best is hard to find. Spraying the ball left and right doesn't bode well with such penal rough.
Watson, who said "There was something slightly spiritual about today," following his round, will certainly be in the spotlight during television coverage Friday. The five-time Open champion in contention would be a bigger and more improbable story than Greg Norman making a charge at the same time last year.
I wouldn't count on Woods or Watson winning in the end but it will be interesting to see if Tom can top Tiger this week.