Tracking Tiger: Woods finishes three off the lead

NORTON, Mass. – Tiger Woods was about to pull the trigger on his opening tee shot at the Dell Technologies Championship when he backed off and broke into a smile. But the trademark grin would soon leave the 79-time PGA TOUR winners face. Onlookers assumed Woods was indecisive on what to use and had made an 11th hour strategy change – one they second guessed his choice when he hooked his ball well left and into a hazard. In fact decades of staring at the back of golf clubs had paid off just in time. Woods had grabbed what he thought was a 3-wood out of his bag but in fact was about to let fly with a 5-wood on the par-4 10th at TPC Boston, his opening hole. It wasn’t poor eyesight from the now 42-year-old, in fact his veteran caddie Joe LaCava had to take the blame. “That was pretty funny, actually, because I thought it was a 3-wood out. Joey had put the wrong head cover on from the range,â€� Woods revealed. “I had a 5-wood out, which I put down there, and I can’t hit it that far in the wind, I need a 3-wood. I went back to 3-wood, that’s why it looked like I switched, because I realized I had the wrong club in my hand.â€� Woods had sensed something a little different in his practice swings but it wasn’t until his head was over the ball he figured something wasn’t quite right. In the end he might have been better off sticking with what he had given the result. Woods would open with bogey and battle his way to a 1-over 72 to be five adrift of the early morning leaders. Through seven holes of his round he was languishing at 3-over and could have easily put his tournament under extreme threat. Instead he ground out some birdies to allow some hope for a better final three rounds and a move forward in the FedExCup. “I hung in there. And 18, 1, 2, 4, there’s some birdieable holes there, I thought if you could play those holes 4-under par, I’d turn this whole round around,â€� Woods said. “I made a few birdies there, which was nice. Couldn’t quite keep the momentum going throughout the front side, my back nine, and I felt if I felt momentum going, I could have finished under par today.â€� Woods sits 25th in the FedExCup, certain to advance to next week’s BMW Championship (top 70) but is certainly not locked into the TOUR Championship at East Lake in a few week’s time. If he is to hold on to a spot in the top 30 he will need to turn his fortunes around. “When I did miss it, I missed it in bad spots, didn’t have very good angles. But overall, no one is going low out there today,â€� Woods said somewhat optimistically. “It’s tricky with the wind blowing the way it is right now. Hopefully tomorrow I can miss in correct spots and make a few more birdies than I did today.â€� Despite an average day of ball-striking Woods took confidence from his new putter – which came after he ranked near last in the field for Strokes Gained: Putting at THE NORTHERN TRUST last week. Having used a mallet style putter for the last few months, Woods switched back to the Anser-style he won with for the majority of his career. Extensive work with TaylorMade had yielded a putter similar to the one he won 13 of his14 major championships. “I liked it,â€� Woods said of the TaylorMade TP Black Copper Juno he used just 26 times. “I putted beautifully today, I really did. I hit a lot of good putts, and just have to give myself more looks out of them. I didn’t hit the ball close enough today. “I felt good with it. We had to adjust the loft on it just a touch the other day. And I found that my feels came back, that releases something I’m very familiar with. And it felt good. “Trying to get a putter that looked exactly like my old putter, but it had the grooves in it to roll the ball better… And we finally got one.â€� 

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Which team is winning? Who is talking the most trash? We have you covered for Tiger Woods/Peyton Manning vs. Phil Mickelson/Tom Brady.

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