Tiger happy with new putter after level-par National start
Tiger Woods, pleased with a new mallet putter he used competitively for the first time, fired a level-par 70 in the opening round ...
Tiger Woods, pleased with a new mallet putter he used competitively for the first time, fired a level-par 70 in the opening round of the US PGA Quicken Loans National.But the 14-time major champion, playing his 11th event in a comeback year after spinal fusion surgery, stood seven strokes behind co-leaders Andrew Landry and J.J. Spaun after 18 holes at TPC Potomac.Woods, unhappy with his putting since sharing 32nd at the Masters, began practising last week with the new Ardmore putter and used it to replace his Scotty Cameron putter, the one that he used to win 13 major titles and in his latest return after years of back pain.
w Landry and Spaun each fired a bogey-free 63 to set a course record and grab a one-stroke lead over fello Americans Billy Horschel and Andrew Putnam with the final groups yet to finish at the suburban Washington layout.While his 79 career US PGA victories are three shy of Sam Snead's all-time record, Woods has not won a title since the 2013 WGC Bridgestone Invitational and last captured a major at the 2008 US Open.Former world number one Woods won the 2009 and 2012 National titles when the event was played at nearby Congressional Country Club.
He also pushed Spain's Jon Rahm to a playoff in January's CareerBuilder Challenge before losing on the fourth extra hole.Now he owns a course record with a simple goal in mind."Try to break it again," he said. "You've just got to stay in the present and keep on hitting the shots and trying your hardest to make pars when pars are needed and when you get a scoring opportunity, go for it."Whenever I had scoring clubs in my hand, I definitely capitalized. Played really well.