Woods lurking after 71 in first round of PGA Championship

KOHLER, Wis. - So what are we to make of Tiger Woods' opening statement in the PGA Championship, following his week to forget at Firestone?

Woods, who is still hanging on to the No. 1 ranking, started with a 1-under-par 71 yesterday at Whistling Straits, where he finished 24th 6 years ago.

The four-time winner of this major birdied three of his first four holes, to send the TNT broadcast folks into a blather, but he didn't make another until his last hole. Heading out from No. 10 with Y.E. Yang, who outplayed him on the final nine in this tournament last August at Hazeltine, and Vijay Singh, who won a three-way playoff here in 2004, Woods added bogeys at 15, 2 and 7 in between.

It all added up to a 33-way tie for 24th, three behind leaders in the clubhouse Bubba Watson and Francesco Molinari. Matt Kuchar and Ernie Els are also 4-under but each has 4 holes left to play. There are a bunch of fellows who still had to finish their rounds after a delay of more than 3 hours at the start because of fog.

Neither Corey Pavin nor Jim Gray could be reached for comments.

Last week, Woods went 74-72-75-77 at the Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio, where he's won seven times.

This was his best score since an opening 67 in last month's British Open at St. Andrews, where he won in 2000 and 2005.

He made some real good swings and also experienced a few adventures. All things considered, probably about what we should've expected.

"Well, I played too good not to shoot under par," Woods said. "And it would have been very disappointing and frustrating to end up at even, as well as I played today. To shoot under par just feels like less than I should have shot for the way I played today, and that's a good feeling.

"[It] was just 1 week [at Firestone]. That's the way it goes. I mean, everyone has bad weeks."

Well, it hasn't been only 1 week. Tiger is 0-for-2010 in eight previous starts, following a life-changing offseason. His best two finishes were fourths at the Masters (his first tournament back) and the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. Other than that, he hasn't done better than 19th, at the Memorial in early June. So, yeah, people start to question things. He probably even had a few thoughts about it himself.

He put in a ton of practice Monday through Wednesday. And it appeared to have at least some positive impact.

"Yeah, definitely," Woods concurred.

Particularly on the greens. It's no secret his biggest enemy lately has been his putter.

"I felt so much more comfortable over [the ball]," Woods explained. "I got my lines back. I got everything lined up where I could release the blade. The toe is moving again, which is great. Something I like to feel. It felt good."

For the most part, his driving seemed improved as well.

"Certainly it does [provide more confidence]," Woods acknowledged. "I was able to control my trajectory. When the wind blows like this, you have to. You just can't hit the ball in the air and [have it go] all over the place. I felt like I was able to control it both ways [left and right] . . .

"Usually, I don't play the week before a major, so my game's usually more dialed in, and I don't have to put that much work in, because I've already done that at home. It's worked 14 times [to win a major] doing it that way. This has been different. I struggled last week and I had to [change my routine]."

What it means for the rest of the week, maybe he doesn't even know for sure, but it's a far cry from what we just saw.

"Welcome to golf," he said. "It is what it is. Guys shoot 59 and don't win. Fickle game.

"It's not where I want it, but it's better. It felt good to be a little more steady today.

"After that quick start, I thought I could shoot something in the 60s. It didn't quite happen."

Somebody asked whether he felt any different walking to his first tee, given what just went down in Akron.

"No," Woods insisted. "Trying to place the ball down the correct side of the fairway, shape it and move on."

OK, but did that extended wait because of the fog affect him any?

"Well, I got to eat three breakfasts, so that's always good," he said with a smile.

So, has the statute of limitations on all those Perkins jokes expired yet? *