World No. 1 Tiger Woods is staring at a 20-yard chip shot over an 11th hole greenside bunker when play resumes on day two of the weather-affected inaugural Turkish Airlines Open.
Woods struggled with the driver in his first regular Tour event since the PGA Tour’s Tour Championship managing to hit just two fairways at the 10th and 11th holes and minutes before poor light halted play in the $7m penultimate European Tour event of the season.
The 14-time Major winning Woods was at one under par and six shots behind three players leading on seven under par and who each also had not completed their first round.
The trio are South African Darren Fichardt, who has played 14 holes, along the England pair of Paul Casey and Steve Webster, who had played 14 holes and 12 respectively.
Bernie talking with Tiger after poor light halted play on day one of the Turkish Airlines Open. (Exclusive photo – Stuart Adams/www.golftourimages.com)
A morning thunderstorm meant play did not commence until just after noon local time but with only 15 players in the elite 78 player field managing to complete their round.
The clubhouse leader is the pair of Argentina’s Ricardo Gonzalez and Denmark’s Thorbjorn Olesen who carded six under par 66s.
Woods commenced only his second regular European Tour event this year by holing a four-foot putt for birdie.
He went to two under par with a birdie at the par three, eighth hole but after missing the fairway at the next, the par four ninth hole he took bogey to fall back to one-under par.
Tiger Woods marked his ball with a white tee peg from where he will recommence his first round. (Exclusive photo – Stuart Adams/www.golftourimages.com)
Woods had just driven off the par five, 11th hole in the company of current European No.1 Henrik Stenson and fellow US Open champion, Justin Rose when the siren sounded and giving the players the option to complete the hole they were playing.
But after Rose was forced to play a provisional ball off the tee the light deteriorated and Woods elected to mark to his ball after playing his second shot. He did so by sticking a white tee peg in the ground from where he will resume his round at 8am local time Friday.
“I thought when we teed off we would be lucky to get in 11 holes and I was pretty spot on,” said Woods.
“So we got in about the right number of holes as it just gets dark so quickly and it’s like someone just turned off the light switch.
“The air now also is heavy with moisture so the ball is not going very far compared to when we were warming up on the range and early in the round.
“But towards the end we were hitting about a half-a-club short.
“I’m still working on getting a bit of the rust out of my game but then tomorrow is going to be a long day for all of us.”
When Woods was in Turkey last year for the Turkish Airlines Invitational he competed on the nearby Antalya course whereas this year’s event is on the Colin Montgomerie designed Maxx Royal layout.
And while Montgomerie struggled to be at par after 16 holes, Woods was very complimentary of the former victorious European Ryder Cup captain’s design work.
“It’s a tricky golf course and it helps to have played it numerous times as it one of those courses where you get a better feel for it the more you play it,” said Woods.
“But overall Colin’s done a good job in designing the course.
“However looking back on my 10 and a half holes, I probably left a little out there and I see that seven under par is leading at this stage so the goal in the holes I have left in the morning is to pick up a few quick birdies.”
