Woods (73) Sputters With Putter

The Tiger Watch continues and while he might not be in a slump, as he insists he isn’t, he is giving a good impression of being in one.

“I’m not hitting the ball very well, but I was able to get it around,” Woods said after opening with a three-over-par 73 Thursday at the PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club. “Then I started hitting it pretty good but couldn’t make any putts. It was one or the other.”

Woods began at No. 10 and bogeyed the first hole. He double-bogeyed the par-three 15th, his sixth hole, after he missed the green when he pulled a three-iron and had a bad lie in the rough, then hit his chip thin and knocked it into the water.

Woods was still at two over when he doubled the par-four No. 3, his 12th hole, after missing the green with a nine-iron.

“To compound the problem, I kept hitting bad shots after that.”

Woods hit nine of 14 fairways and 14 of 18 greens, but he needed 33 putts. By contrast, Fred Funk needed only 23 putts.

David Duval says Woods’ swing looks good enough to him.

“Maybe the ball is getting into the rough a couple more times than it did a year ago,” he said. “A couple of the putts might not be going in that have. It’s just golf.

“You know, the guy is in a tough spot because he’s not winning every week, he’s getting crucified. It’s just a game. It’s just a game of golf. It’s a very tough game to stay on top of for years at a time.

“I think everybody goes through these spurts and we certainly expect a lot from him. We expect his spurts of greatness to last longer than maybe other people’s. But he’s going to have down times too. He’ll fight back.”

Ryder Cup update: Brad Faxon and David Toms, who are trying to play their way onto the team, got off to quick starts with matching opening rounds of 66. Neither Faxon (No. 12) nor Toms (No. 14) is in the top 10 in the points standings, but both could move up quickly if they do well at the PGA.

Toms, who has no Ryder Cup experience, said he has had only one substantial discussion with U.S. captain Curtis Strange about the Ryder Cup and that was at the Western Open five weeks ago.

“The one thing he did say is that he didn’t think he would go beyond the 15th position for his pick,” Toms said. “He said that would be stretching it. And he didn’t say I had a chance to be picked. He said, ‘Play well.’

“You know, I’ve got it figured that I’ve got to finish in the top 10. That’s the only way. If I can build on what happened today, I’ll have a chance to make it.”

Remember Scott Dunlap? At last year’s PGA Championship at Valhalla, Dunlap came out of nowhere and after 54 holes was tied with Bob May, one shot behind Woods. It didn’t last. He closed with a 75 and dropped into a tie for ninth.

But Dunlap had a few things going for him Thursday--he turned 38, he lives in Duluth and he shot a 69.

“I’m no household name by any means,” Dunlap said.

Woods clearly is a household name, but Dunlap says he never bought the theory that Tiger would dominate Atlanta Athletic Club.

“I just didn’t think this was the kind of course where Tiger could run away. The course didn’t beat everybody down. It’s just the kind of course where more guys are going to have a chance.”

May, who lost a playoff to Woods last year, opened with a 71.

The first threesome of the day went off at 7:30 a.m. and included Jonathan Kaye, who shot a 67. He said he was happy to be in the first group, although he did have one complaint.

Said Kaye: “Warming up in the dark.”

The PGA had the strongest field of any major championship: 95 of the top 100 in the Official World Ranking.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Hole of the Day

A look at Thursday’s key hole:

Hole: 18

Yardage: 490

Par: 4

Stroke Average: 4.33

Rank: 2rd

Key fact: Phil Mickelson bogeyed it to fall out of the lead, and nearly a third of the field failed to par. Leader Grant Waite made one of only 14 birdies on the day.