Tiger’s Game a Little Subpar for Him in Debut

Under dark, thick clouds Thursday, the blue Pacific was gray. But it was still a sight to behold from the sixth tee on Torrey Pines’ North Course. The gallery at the 160-yard par three was still and quiet, respectful of the man who was about to hit. All you could hear was the surf pounding onto the rocks below.

Until:

“Aw, you’ve got to be kidding me,” Tiger Woods said, loudly, interrupting the serenity, as his ball sailed over the green.

Woods was back, if not in all of his splendor, at least in all of his fury.

Among the joys of watching sports is to see a top athlete at the top of his game, in that elusive place Arthur Ashe called the zone. Kobe Bryant scored 51 points in three quarters Wednesday night at Denver, his seventh consecutive game with at least 35 points, and said afterward he has felt lately like Geppetto, Pinocchio’s puppet master, pulling the strings.

We have all seen Woods in the zone. He was not there in the first round of the Buick Invitational. It was more like he was tangled in the strings. That is hardly surprising considering he was playing his first competitive holes of the year and had completed only three practice rounds since undergoing knee surgery Dec. 12.

Yet Woods, with his groans and grimaces, always seems surprised when he’s not mastering his universe. He was less forgiving of himself than everyone else on the course, players and spectators, when he struggled. He seldom found the fairway with his drives or reached the greens in regulation and his play on the fringes was wildly inconsistent.

Still, he managed to tidy up most of his messes, and, when his day ended prematurely because of the fog and rain after nine holes, he was at one under par. Not bad at all. Considering.

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It was a wonderful day for Tiger watching.

It’s usually difficult to get within a John Daly drive of Woods and the glimpses you do get are fleeting. It’s possible to follow him for 18 holes and never actually see him hit a shot. But, even though his return to the PGA Tour was much anticipated and publicized, the gallery Thursday was relatively small, no doubt because of the weather. It was like a day at the British Open, only warmer.

About the only time the sun came through the clouds, and I swear I’m not employing dramatic license to make this up, was when Woods arrived at the first tee. That was at 2:05 p.m., more than four hours after he and his playing partners, Phil Tataurangi of New Zealand and Ian Leggatt of Canada, had been scheduled to tee off. Their start was delayed because of the wet grounds from Wednesday’s storm and the soupy fog that hindered visibility.

Woods was boisterously welcomed by the crowd of a few hundred that was there.

“Welcome back, Tiger,” one person said.

“On a bright, sunny day like this, oh yeah,” he said.

The tension broken, he hit his drive far right, into the trees.

“Fore!” he yelled.

It must be his equipment.

Because he was straight off the tee so few times, he had to walk farther than normal, which was a good test for his rehabilitated knee. He left the course after his nine holes with few words for the media, so it’s not possible to report how he felt. We’ll probably know more after today, when, weather permitting, he must play 27 holes.

But at least he wasn’t limping, which he had been at Sherwood in December when he was in such pain the night before the final round that he considered withdrawing. He hung in for a 67.

That’s the spirit we’re used to seeing from Woods and the spirit he displayed Thursday when he parred the first four holes despite less-than-stellar play. Then he left his chip shot short on the fifth and two-putted for bogey.

He seemed angry, as though it was time to get down to business, when he took off his rain vest, braving the elements in a short-sleeve shirt. When he birdied the sixth hole, it was easy to imagine that we had witnessed an Arnie moment, when he used to hitch up his pants.

But it turned out that Woods was merely uncomfortable. He put on a long-sleeve sweater after his drive on the next hole and said later, “The problem was I didn’t dress properly. I was either too hot or too cold.”

That drive on No. 7, again far right, again into the trees, might have been his worst of the day. The marshal ordered the gallery members to back up, “way back,” so Woods had room for his shot, and when they complied, perhaps a little more than was necessary, he smiled.

“I’m not hitting it that bad, am I?” Woods said.

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No matter how he was hitting it Thursday, it can only be assumed that he will be hitting it better soon, maybe as soon as next week if he chooses to play at Riviera.

Enough has already been said about Phil Mickelson and his verbal shot at Woods’ equipment. “Really bold or really stupid,” Woods said upon hearing it. My vote is for the latter.

But it’s irrelevant because there is another rivalry emerging in golf that has the potential to be the real thing. While Woods was reacquainting himself with tournament play Thursday, Ernie Els was leading after the first round of another tournament, in Australia.

Els has already won three times this year, twice on the PGA Tour, and leads Woods in earnings on that tour, the way the golfers keep score, $1.8 million to zero. Woods, sounding welcome to have another challenge, said this week he has plenty of time to catch up.

Tiger Woods vs. Ernie Els. That’s a lot better for the sport than Tiger Woods vs. the field, which is all golf has been able to provide us with in recent years.

Randy Harvey can be reached at randy.harvey@latimes.com.