Tiger Woods started the 2019 PGA Tour with the first round of 70 at Thursday's Farmer's Insurance Open at Torrey Pines.
Woods was paired with Xander Schauffele and Tony Finau for the exam at the South Course, which played about two more powerful blows from the North Course, where the trio will spin for the second round on Friday. A breeze helped open the door to favorable conditions, and when Woods reached par-5, he did so with the aim of scoring. The aggressive game was worth doing for four of the five birdies that day, each of which felt the need to remember the low scores published by Jon Rahm and others on the North Course.
In the end, the exciting thing about the Woods round is that he is often in a position to make putts for small birds that don't fall. There were a number of failures with the driver, but most of the round, especially at the start, was determined by strong action from the tee to the green and a birdie with inches of failure.
"I think he might be able to shoot something around 68 or 67 today quite easily," Woods told Golf Channel after the round. "I hit a lot of good putts around the hole that didn't fall. But overall, shooting at the South Course wasn't that bad, but now I'm forced to shoot one under tomorrow, so most of the field is there today."
However, not everything is sad for Woods on the pitch. He had one of the best putts of the day with a 30 foot birdie putt in the par 5 13.
Woods won a shot on the field from tee to green despite losing several roads and some green in regulations. That was because the swing and the ball punch seemed to be truly in rhythm, and his knowledge of the course helped him avoid the worst that the South Course offered. The round could start with a very conservative approach, but when he started doing things in turn, Woods pointed to the pin in the par 3 11 and gave one of his best shots of the day.
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