ST. ANDREWS, Scotland - Shortly before 8 o’clock, along about the time John Daly’s first birdie putt of the day was dropping, some 376 yards away, Tiger Woods made his first appearance of the morning.
As he emerged from the locker room yesterday he was preceded by a gaggle of R&A stewards, uniformed policemen and his own hired muscle. As they circled the green for the second time it became apparent that somebody had taken a wrong turn somewhere along the line. Tiger was plainly lost.
But from then until Woods’ wayward drive off the 17th tee, it was pretty much the only mistake he would make.
The comedy of errors in the search for the practice green coincided with a remarkable change in the weather. The torrential rains that had pelted St. Andrews for the better part of a day abruptly subsided, and with that, the wind vanished as well.
It was awkward. Absolutely weird, Woods said after his opening-round 67 left him within 4 shots of the lead at the 150th British Open. “There wasn’t even a whisper of wind. I’ve never seen that before. You never play a links golf course with no wind.
One of the wonders of the Old Course is that depending on the direction and the velocity of the wind, it can be many different golf courses. In the absence of wind, though, it isn’t much of a golf course at all. Utterly defenseless, it was at the mercy of the morning field, and, Woods quickly realized, you had to go get it.
He could see on the leaderboard what Rory McIlroy (9-under 63), two groups ahead of him, was doing, and he could see what John Daly (66), several groups ahead of McIlroy, was doing as well.
The golf course was there to be had,” Woods said. “By the time I was playing 1 and 18 you had to be 6-under to be in the top 10. You don’t see that at too many majors.
Considering how things have gone for Woods in 2010 it was a most satisfying day. Not a single catcall from the galleries. No lap-dancer jokes, no shouts of “You da man.
(The crowds) have always been respectful and enthusiastic here, he said. “There’s no reason it would have been any different. They were great. We were making a bunch of birdies, so they had a lot to cheer about.
He made the turn 3-under, and then beginning on the 12th hole, rattled off three birdies in a row to get himself to 6-under at a time when McIlroy and Daly were but a shot better.
His first truly bad drive of the day came on the 17th. “I was trying to hit a cut, and I just didn’t trust it,” he said. The 3-wood sailed off into the left rough.
And he still nearly saved par. He looked to be in birdie position on the closing hole as well, when his drive reached the Valley of Sin just in front of the green. Putting from there, Woods left it well short, and had to settle for par.
“With the conditions we had, you had to take advantage,he said. I felt like I did a pretty good job of that today.
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