Tiger Woods Shoots 66, In Contention At The Greenbrier Classic


Tiger Woods shot a four-under par 66 during Thursday’s first round at the Greenbrier Classic, his best round since the WGC Cadillac Championship last season. Woods is currently tied for 12th after round one, trailing leader Scott Langley by four strokes.

Woods, who started his day on the back nine at The Old White TPC along with playing partners Steve Stricker and David Lingmerth, rolled in three birdies in his first six holes before stumbling with a bogey on the par-five 17th hole. His one major mistake of the day occurred on the sixth where Woods skulled his third shot from the green side bunker over the green, chunked his pitch, and salvaged a double bogey. Tiger, displaying signs of his former self, rallied to birdie his final three holes en route to his 66.

According to stats provided by the PGA Tour’s website, Woods hit 10 out of 14 fairways and 14 out of 18 greens, needing only 27 putts to get the ball in the hole. Considering his wildly unpredictable misses with the driver these past few weeks, Woods’ solid driving statistic on Thursday is certainly a positive indication to how he is swinging.

ESPN reported that in his post-round interview, Tiger discussed his swing changes under new coach Chris Como and how he felt the adjustments were coming along to fit his new game.

“I wasn’t that far off. Even though my scores don’t indicate it, my swings don’t indicate it, but my feels were telling me that I wasn’t that far off. I was proving it to myself, time and time again away from a tournament site and on the range, but my feel in my hands and my body weren’t far off. It was just a matter of just getting into a little bit of the rhythm and the flow of it, and I found that.”

Woods, who missed his second cut of the season two weeks ago at the U.S. Open at Chambers Bay with a disastrous first round 80, certainly found his rhythm and his game on Thursday, flushing several iron shots to within only a few feet of the pin. Tiger will tee off at 1:10 p.m. Eastern time on Friday, and if he continues to swing well, he will not only look to make the cut, but also be in contention for his first victory since the 2013 WGC Bridgestone Invitational when the weekend rolls around.

[Photo by Darren Carroll/Getty Images]

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