Knowledgeable crowd sees the Woods from the tees
Most, but not all, followed the match between the runaway world No 1 Tiger Woods and Padraig Harrington, aka the People’s Champion for Irish galleries.
And they were not disappointed as Woods shot a sparkling seven under par 65 without ever being off the leash.
Harrington may have suffered a little in comparison but he still expressed himself happy with a round of 69 and even happier still with what the occasion meant to his club, Mount Juliet, and for Irish golf in general.
“It’s a showcase for the game in this country,” said Harrington. Who could disagree. The course was as good if not better than we had all known it would be. The weather was unexpectedly favourable The first day galleries had a ball and more importantly further enhanced the image that Ireland has always had the most knowledgeable golf watchers in the world.
At the end of it all, Woods, as so often before, was out in front. Already the rest are playing catch up.
He is clearly enjoying himself in the delightful ambience of Mount Juliet where he was involved in a humorous cameo on his way to the leisure centre on Wednesday. He neglected to bring his pass and was refused admission by the courteous but firm young lady security guard.
“You cannot come in without your pass,” she insisted. Realising that argument would get him nowhere, a bemused Tiger asked the girl if she knew who he was. “No,” she replied. To which he said quietly: “I’m Tiger Woods.” The poor girl was deeply embarrassed, apologised as best she could and, of course, immediately opened the way for the great man.
Tiger thought about the incident as he worked out and when he finished sought out the girl in question. He asked her if she really meant that she didn’t know who he was and she admitted the perceived shortcoming. But Woods gave her a big hug and departed happy. At long last, He had found somebody in golfing circles who didn’t recognise him.
“The golf course is playing absolutely gorgeous out there,” said Woods. “The fairways are perfect, the greens the best we’ve putted on all year, including the majors. They are absolutely pure. This was my first experience of competitive golf in Ireland and I was telling Paddy [Padraig Harrington] that they’re not only gracious but they also understand the game of golf.
“ Paddy hit his tee shot off to the right at the 4th and he was left with a tough shot. A good shot would have been to the left front part of the green and he hit that precise shot. They clapped loudly because they understood how difficult a golf shot it was. So it’s great to play in front of galleries that are knowledgeable and the Irish fans are certainly knowledgeable about the game of golf.”
Before a ball was struck, Woods predicted there would be extremely low scoring this week because of those pure greens and the favourable weather and he certainly has been spot on so far.
Twenty-nine of the 65 players broke 70; 44 were under par. Woods is hopeful of beating yesterday’s 65 over the next three days and reasoned.
“If I can drive the ball a little better than today, especially on the par fives, I think I can do it. I only birdied one of those today. Two of the first three 5s, I can hit iron into the greens. The way I felt over my irons I probably would have made more birdies but I just couldn’t get it into play. If I can get the ball into play to make putts, I feel my speed is really good right now.
“I haven’t hit a driver this often since Augusta. I didn’t drive it well on the par fives but overall I can’t be too disappointed with 65. I hit a few drives left because I was afraid to hit it right. I didn’t want to lose it right so I flipped it left. I’ll get out on the range and fix that.” In truth, there isn’t a whole lot broke so you’d have to wonder how much there really is to fix.
Tiger’s words are ominous for all the other contenders for the $1m first prize His gains came at the fourth (2 iron off tee, 8 iron to six feet); sixth (5 iron to three feet); seventh (2 iron off tee, 8 iron to twenty feet); 13th (2 iron off tee, 6 iron to fifteen feet); 14th (7 iron to three feet); 17th (driver and 3 iron short of green, 55 yard pitch to six feet); and 18th (2 iron, 6 iron to 25 feet).
The chase is led on 66 by two more Americans, Steve Lowery, and the 2001 US PGA champion David Toms.
Canadian left-hander Mike Weir is hovering on 67 along with former Masters champion Vijay Singh, last year’s US Open winner Retief Goosen and the Englishman Gary Evans.
It was a bitterly disappointing day for Darren Clarke who made far too many mistakes which he never looked like redeeming and 75 leaves him a share of 60th with only the Japanese Kenichi Kuboya, 77, behind him.
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