Tree to Green, Woods Is Tops

The driver was only for show.

Tiger Woods couldn’t attack tree-lined Sahalee Country Club from the tee in the first round of the PGA Championship, so he left his biggest weapon in the bag and found another one--his putter.

Striding confidently to the hole as each putt dropped for birdie, Woods once again got into contention in a major on Thursday by shooting a course-record, four-under-par 66 for a two-stroke lead.

Three others still on the course at two under--Craig Stadler, Ignacio Garrido and Jesper Parnevik--still had a chance to catch him.

“What did it look like? A lot of rough, a lot of trees,” Woods said. “But overall, I saw a lot of putts go in the hole. And that’s definitely not a bad thing.”

Sahalee had plenty of bad things in store for others who tried to navigate its narrow fairways in pursuit of the early score posted by Woods.

Glen Day was leading at five under until he found the rough on the 15th hole, then three-putted from four feet for double bogey. Frank Lickliter had a chance to catch Woods until he put his tee shot on the par-three 17th in the water.

Both wound up with 68, along with Bill Glasson, Bob Estes and 1993 PGA champion Paul Azinger.

And then there’s Olin Browne, who learned the hard way about the unforgiving forest of Sahalee. His tee shot into a red cedar on No. 8 didn’t come down until a barefoot fan scaled the tree to find it.

Browne took an unplayable lie, and eventually a double bogey.

Even Glasson took his lumps, his 68 marred by a double bogey on the “goal post” hole, the par-five 11th, and a bogey on No. 18.

Sahalee came out a winner in its first test for the world’s best golfers. With two-thirds of the field finished, just 25 players were under par, and 10 of them were still on the course.

“The trick today is to understand that the course has changed a little,” said Azinger, playing his best golf since his recovery from cancer. “It’s the fairways that are a little faster. I backed off a couple of tee shots once I figured that out.”

Masters and British Open champion Mark O’Meara, trying to become the first player since Ben Hogan in 1953 to win three majors in one season, got off to a rocky start with bogeys on two of the first three holes.

But O’Meara is all about great finishes, and he once again found a way to hang around the lead. He played bogey-free the rest of the way and finished with a 69.

“I was very relaxed out there because I’ve got nothing to lose. I’ve already got two majors,” O’Meara said. “I hope I can use that experience to carry me through. I played very well on the back nine after kind of a shaky start. I was very proud of that.”

Also at 69 were 1986 PGA champion Bob Tway, Steve Stricker and Kenny Perry, who lost the PGA in a playoff to Mark Brooks at Valhalla two years ago.

Nick Price wasted strong iron play by missing several birdie putts and finished at 70, along with Justin Leonard, Ryder Cup captain Ben Crenshaw and defending champion Davis Love III.

“It was a very bad ball-striking round on a day when the course will play the easiest it will ever play,” said Love, trying to become the first back-to-back winner since Denny Shute in 1937.

Woods hasn’t won a major since the 1997 Masters, in which he was fearless with the driver on an Augusta National course that features generous, rough-free fairways.

Sahalee doesn’t allow for that, not with its towering firs and cedars that spread their limbs to the edge of fairways and swat errant shots into ankle-deep rough.

Just ask David Duval, Payne Stewart and U.S. Open champion Lee Janzen. All of them shot 76 and may have to be more aggressive--a daunting task at Sahalee--if they want to stick around for the weekend.

John Daly played aggressive from the start and got predictable results--he didn’t birdie either par five, took triple bogey on the 18th and shot 80.

Fred Couples, the hometown favorite, took double bogey on No. 18 and finished with a 74.

Woods learned about Sahalee’s dangers early. He blocked his two-iron into the right rough on the first hole, hacked out into rough around the green and took a bogey.

But the round turned in his favor quickly when he got away with a mistake. Woods had 220 yards to the green on the par-five second hole and aimed conservatively to the middle. But he hung his three-iron out to the right--straight at the flag, but directly over the water.

“I thought for sure the ball was wet,” he said.

It cleared the water by about six feet and wound up on the fringe, where Woods got up and down for a birdie.

“From there, I felt at ease with myself,” he said.

The rest of the round was a careful walk down the treacherous, tight fairways of Sahalee.

Woods didn’t go on the attack until he got to the greens. Of his seven birdies, only two were inside 15 feet--a wedge that landed right behind the hole at No. 10 and spun back four feet, and a 30-yard pitch to two feet on the par-five 11th.

Throughout the day, Woods kept one thought in the back of his head.

“Hang in there, be patient, hit fairways and the center of the greens, and give myself a chance,” he said. “I was trying to hit the ball in the center of the green and attack from there.”

Putting is what plagued Woods more than anything in the U.S. Open, in which he had two four-putts, and at Royal Birkdale.

“It wasn’t the greatest ball-striking round, but I made a lot of putts,” said Woods, who took only 27 putts in breaking Jack Nicklaus’ course-record 67, set in a 1984 exhibition.

“It’s perfect out there. The greens are perfect. You start the ball on line, and you just starting walking. You know it’s going to go in the hole.”

Even with two-irons and a three-wood off the tee, Woods was far from perfect. He made all three of his bogeys after missing the fairway--although one of them was a three-putt from fringe on No. 14.

But he proved he is a quick study on knowing when to attack, and when to wait for the course to come to him. Woods was never suckered into going after pins tucked between contours around the edges of the green. He had great control of his distance and often left himself putts below the cup.

“I felt going into today that I just needed to be myself, and just hit good golf shots,” he said. “Just let it come, and don’t force it.”