TPC Boston, MA …
Tiger Woods was singing the praise of a third different putter this season in posting a one-over par 72 on the opening day of the Dell Technologies Championship.
Woods, and starting from the 10th tee, had been three-over par after seven holes in the bright but windy conditions before a first birdie of the round at his eighth hole.
He then birdied his 13th hole birdie before the current World No. 26 ranked Woods bogeyed his 15th ahead of a two-putt birdie on 16 while he holed a 23-foot gem at the next for par and also closed with a par.
“When I did miss it, I missed it in bad spots, didn’t have very good angles,” said Woods.
“Overall, no one is going low out there today. It’s tricky with the wind blowing the way it is right now. Hopefully tomorrow I can miss in correct spots and make a few more birdies than I did today.”
Woods recorded just 26 putts and that is nearly two fewer than this year-long average of 28.52 putts per round.
However, it was hitting only half of the 18 TPC Boston greens that hurt the 14-time Major winning Woods in his first back to the course in five years.
Tiger Woods and his third putter in 2018
Woods has abandoned the TaylorMade ‘Ardmore 3’ mallet putter that saw him go close to winning last month’s (British) Open Championship and also finish a gallant second in the recent PGA Championship.
Instead, he’s switched to a TaylorMade black copper ‘Juno’ prototype putter than is not yet on the market.
“I’ve been working on this new putter since July and trying to get a putter that looked exactly like my old Scotty Cameron putter, but it had the grooves in it to roll the ball better,” he said.
“So, I finally got one and I like it. I felt good with it. We had to adjust the loft on it just a touch the other day. And I found that my feels came back, that releases something I’m very familiar with. And it felt good.”
At the end of the round it was Woods’ management stablemate, Justin Rose leadind by one shot in posting a six-under par 65.
Rory McIlroy, and returning to competition after his disappointing PGA Championship showing , posted a round of a level par 71.
