Woods Sizes Up the Course

Tiger Woods played Royal St. George’s for the first time Sunday and said he might need a few more rounds to get a feel for this British Open.

On some holes, he couldn’t figure out which way to go.

On others, he couldn’t believe where his ball wound up.

“There’s a lot of blind shots,” Woods said after playing 18 holes with Charles Howell III on a warm, windy day on the southeastern coast.

“You’re going to have to play a few rounds to get an idea where to go,” he said. “On a couple of holes, I didn’t know which way to go.”

Which holes?

“I can’t remember,” Woods said with a laugh.

His only experience of Royal St. George’s is videotape of 1993, the last time the British Open was held on the quirky links. Greg Norman won that year, closing with a 64 to hold off Nick Faldo and a collection of the game’s best players.

Norman’s 13-under-par 267 stands as the British Open record, and it might be safe if the weather continues to be unseasonably sunny and warm. It has left the fairways brown and brittle, and the wind coming off Pegwell Bay makes it hard to control tee shots.

Woods found that to be the case on the 460-yard 18th hole.

He had a driver in his hand but switched to a two-iron. He paused, selected a three-wood, and his tee shot into a right-to-left wind rolled into a bunker. He dropped a ball short of the bunker, and his approach bounced onto and over the green.