Tiger Woods was not happy. Well, he could not be unhappy with a 66 to open the BMW Championship. But he said that score most players would embrace could have been even lower.
A pair of three-putts resulted in his only bogeys to offset seven birdies and leave Woods three shots behind Brandt Snedeker, who rolled in seven straight birdies at one point for a 63.
Wood said: “I certainly wasted a lot of shots out there. I missed three short ones (putts) and played the par 5s (terribly). One of those days.”
The par 5s, which are the holes Woods and other long-hitters dominate, were a real problem for the world’s No. 1 player. He did not birdie any of the three long holes and missed a chance for one on a five-foot putt on No. 17.
This is Woods’ first tournament at Conway Farms Golf Club in Lake Forest, Ill., and he attributed that lack of experience with the terrain for his woes on the greens.
“The familiarity, I just don’t quite have it, and some of the putts are a little bit tricky here and there,” Woods said. “But (caddie) Joey (LaCava) did a great job of getting the numbers and getting a feel for the golf course, and we talked about it at length yesterday as we were playing the pro-am, and what the wind direction was going to be for today and tomorrow and had a really good game plan.”
The BMW Championship is the third of four FedEx Cup playoff events that concludes with next week’s Tour Championship in Atlanta. The leader in points following next week’s tournament at East Lake wins a $10 million bonus.
Woods entered the BMW just 14 points behind FedEx leader Henrik Stenson, the winner of the Deutsche Bank Championship over Labor Day weekend, who shot a 72 on Thursday.
