Skip to footer

Tiger Woods barefoot, wet, four shots back in Honda Classic

Tiger Woods, who started on the back nine at PGA National, got off to a rough start with bogeys on his first and fourth holes but recovered with two birdies on the back nine in unusually chilly and overcast conditions for Florida.

|
Wilfredo Lee/AP
Tiger woods hits out of a bunker on the 13th hole during the first round of the Honda Classic golf tournament, Feb. 28, in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
  • By Simon Evans Reuters

| PALM BEACH GARDENS, Florida

Tiger Woods had his bare feet in water to save par en route to an even-par 70 in the opening round of the Honda Classic on Thursday that left him four shots back of the clubhouse leaders.

The 14-times major winner, who started on the back nine at PGA National, got off to a rough start with bogeys on his first and fourth holes but recovered with two birdies on the back nine in unusually chilly and overcast conditions for Florida.

Boo Weekley, Sean O'Hair, Dustin Johnson and shared the early clubhouse league with four-under rounds of 66.

Woods, wearing a pullover, bogeyed the par-four 10th hole and added another at the par-four 13th before recovering with a birdie on the par-five third hole.

On the par-four sixth, Woods hooked his tee shot into the water hazard but managed to save par after going bare foot, putting on his rain pants and playing out of the water.

"It was only half submerged so I could play some sort of explosion shot and get it back in the fairway," said Woods, who used a nine-iron out of the water.

"I wasn't trying to advance it very far just get it back on the fairway and give myself some sort of wedge shot in there - which I did and got up and down."

It might have been uncomfortable for Woods but his decision to get wet saved his round, particularly when he followed the par with a birdie on the par-three seventh.

"If I didn't get that up-and-down, I am looking at a six, three-over, and all of a sudden I flip it, make par there and birdie the next," said Woods. "Could easily have been three and all of a sudden I'm even."

Woods needed 32 putts in his round but appeared unconcerned with his performance on the greens.

"I played really well today, I hit a lot of good shots, but I didn't make anything," Woods told reporters.

"Just a ton of good putts that burned the edge and either the green didn't take it or I snagged it and I never really made anything until number seven.

"It was a pretty boring day on the greens and I hit a lot of good shots."

Defending champion Rory McIlroy was even-par after three holes.

(Editing by Frank Pingue)

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Tiger Woods barefoot, wet, four shots back in Honda Classic
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2013/0301/Tiger-Woods-barefoot-wet-four-shots-back-in-Honda-Classic
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe