One analyst thinks Dustin Johnson’s monster drive at Kapalua is the ‘greatest shot’ in golf history

POTOMAC, Md. — Tiger Woods used a new putter and got the same middling results Thursday in the Quicken Loans National. Woods battled back from a double bogey with five straight birdie chances from 8 feet or closer. He made only two of them and had to settle for an even-par 70, leaving him seven shots out of the lead in the opening round on the TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm. Andrew Landry set the pace on a difficult, but rain-softened course with a 7-under 63. J.J. Spaun matched him in the afternoon, playing in the group behind Woods without hardly anyone noticing that he played bogey-free while running off five birdies in a seven-hole stretch. Landry, who won the Texas Open in April for his first PGA TOUR title, also had a new putter in the bag. All the attention was on Woods, who had hoped a mallet-style putter might help him shake out of a putting slump. It didn’t. “I shot about the score I should have shot today,” Woods said. He never made a putt outside 10 feet, and the final stretch in the afternoon appeared to be a wasted chance to salvage a score under par. Woods also kept his round from getting worse with two big par saves to start the back nine, including an up-and-down from 147 yards on No. 11 after driving it into the trees. “This is a course that’s going to get tougher as the week goes on,” Woods said. It was plenty tough for him in his first competition on the TPC Potomac, and his first time playing the tournament since 2015. This also is the last edition, and the field is among the weakest on the PGA TOUR this year. Rickie Fowler is the only player in the top 10 in the world, and he also rallied for a 70. Even when he kept it in the short grass off the tee, Woods didn’t have a reasonable birdie chance until No. 5, and he missed from 10 feet. And then he ran into trouble on the par-4 sixth, starting with a tee shot he pulled left that caromed off a tree and landed in a the mown path that leads from the tee to the fairway. Woods tried to hit a 3-wood to the green and it came up short and into the hazard. He had to drop it in more rough, came up just short of the green and wound up making a 4-foot putt to escape with double bogey. Going with an iron off the tee at the par-5 10th, he pulled that into the hazard but at least was able to chop it back to the fairway, rip fairway metal around the green and chip it close to save par. On the next hole, he blasted a tee shot well right, over the gallery, and had to pitch out back into play again. He said the 6-foot par putt gave him momentum, and he was never under much stress the rest of the day. He just didn’t make anything. Woods missed from 10 feet and 6 feet on his next two holes. He made his first birdie on No. 14 with a 3-foot putt, only to badly miss from 7 feet on the next hole. “I didn’t really have anything going through the middle part of the round,” Woods said. “I hit some poor tee shots and didn’t really give myself a chance. I have to do a better job of getting more chances.” He had no beef with the putter, saying he rolled it well and hit plenty of good putts that didn’t fall. “Most of the good scores were shot in the morning,” Woods said. “Hopefully, I can go out there and do it myself.” The course was the fourth-toughest on the PGA TOUR last year, trailing only three majors, though it was soft enough and the wind was mild so that low scores were available. Kyle Stanley won at 7-under 273 last year. Landry and Spaun shared the lead at 7 under after one round. “I expect that if we don’t get any rain the next few days, the course is going to firm up, greens get firm, get a little bit quicker, but it’s not going to be like last year,” Billy Horschel said after his 64. “So you’re going to have to go out with the mindset that it’s a little bit different course, you can’t be as conservative, you’ve got to still try and make birdies.” Andrew Putnam also was at 64 while playing in the afternoon. Beau Hossler and Abraham Ancer were another shot behind. Woods has been at least six shots behind — and no better than a tie for 29th — after the opening round of his last six tournaments dating to the Masters.

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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – “Train hard. Fight easy.” It’s a military mantra that Earl Woods, who served in Vietnam as a Green Beret, passed to his son, Tiger. Now, Tiger uses it to inspire his children in their own athletic endeavors. RELATED: Tiger Woods, daughter Sam share emotional World Golf Hall of Fame induction | Woods, Finchem enter together after parallel careers The message is simple: the more intense the preparation, the easier the task becomes. Tiger’s daughter, Sam, shared it while introducing her father at Wednesday’s World Golf Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Those words shaped Tiger’s approach to golf, and it changed the game, bringing a newfound emphasis on physical training to what had been a country-club sport. “I made practicing so difficult, hurt so much, because I wanted to make sure that I was ready come game time,” Tiger said. “I hit thousands of balls, hands bleeding, aching, just so that I could play in a tournament.” The fruit of all those long hours – the record-tying 82 PGA TOUR wins and 15 major championships – earned him his spot in the World Golf Hall of Fame on Wednesday, as Woods was inducted alongside former PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem, three-time U.S. Women’s Open champion Susie Maxwell Berning and pioneer Marion Hollins in a ceremony at PGA TOUR headquarters. Tiger spoke for approximately 15 minutes at Wednesday’s ceremony, making it the longest we’ve seen him speak in public uninterrupted. He didn’t fill those 15 minutes with stories from his 15 major triumphs, though. This opportunity to reflect on his career was filled with stories from his earliest days, showing that his fondest memories are from the days before he was famous. All of the anecdotes he shared were confined to the first half of his life, none of them occurring after 1999. Woods’ spot in the World Golf Hall of Fame has been guaranteed for two decades. But it certainly means more now. Twenty years ago, it would have been just another accomplishment to add to the resume. There isn’t time to reflect while you’re creating history. But now that Tiger is a parent, a survivor and a man who’s experienced the full spectrum of life’s experiences, it made his induction more meaningful. “We didn’t know if you’d come home with two legs or not,” Sam said. “Now, not only are you about to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, but you’re standing on your own two feet. This is why you deserve this, because you’re a fighter.” Berning said in Wednesday’s speech that she earned just $16,000 combined in her three U.S. Women’s Open wins. She asked Tiger if he’d like to trade just one paycheck. But it was clear Wednesday moments in the game that were most important to him didn’t earn him a dollar. He told stories of sneaking on the Navy Golf Course to play with his father and about the second mortgage that his parents took out so that he could travel the country to play junior events. Paying off that debt was one of the first things he did after he turned pro. Tiger teared up twice during Wednesday’s speech, after Sam introduced him and when he looked at his mother. The victories he did discuss were the ones on the putting green at the Heartwell Golf Park in Long Beach, California, where he won quarters, and then dollars, in putting contests. He talked about playing in the dark with his dad until they lost a golf ball. Those rounds in the moonlight obviously meant more than the years in the spotlight. Woods’ favorite memories clearly occurred before his passion became a profession. Wednesday’s ceremony was about celebrating lives that defined golf. But golf did not define their lives. “This is an individual award, but it’s actually a team award,” Tiger said. “All of you allowed me to get here.” And those people are more important than any trophy.

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