Dubai: World No.1 Tiger Woods comes into this week’s Omega Dubai Desert Classic in search of redemption after missing the first secondary cut of his career in last week’s Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines.
In his first event of the 2014 season, the 38-year-old 14-time Major winner finished tied for 80th after carding a third round seven over par 79. It was the third worst round of his career on the US PGA Tour and only two shots better than his worst-ever round as a professional of 81 recorded at the 2002 Open Championship.
The performance was all the more surprising given that Woods has won at Torrey Pines eight times, including the 2008 US Open, and has previously only finished outside the top 10 there once.
Woods showed some signs of improvement in a special Omega Dubai Desert Classic 25th anniversary 18-hole challenge match, involving all 20 surviving past winners, at Emirates Golf Club on Tuesday. He finished tied for eighth with a one-under par 71 in the $600,000 exhibition, but doubts remain over the traditional favourite’s contention for the weekend’s main event following his dire start to the season.
Woods, nevertheless, insists his Torrey Pines horror show was just a blip that can be easily amended at the Desert Classic — which he has previously won twice in 2006 and 2008.
‘One of those days’
“I just had one of those days and that happens,” Woods said. “I was swinging well until that shot I hit on 18 there on the third round. It was right at the flag between a three iron and five wood. I tried to chip a five wood in there and hit it short in the water and it snowballed from there.
“But I hit a lot of good shots to that point and then struggled to do the next stretch, but you know, unfortunately, the longer you play sport, the more things like that happen.
“I didn’t change anything [from Torrey Pines]. I went home and had a nice day off, worked on my putting a little bit in the backyard and that was it.”
Asked if he felt more comfortable heading into the Desert Classic having shaken off some rust in Tuesday’s challenge match, Woods replied: “I definitely feel fit. There’s no doubt about that.
“My game certainly was not as sharp — nowhere near as sharp as I would have liked last week. I was just a fraction off, and a fraction off on a golf course set up that hard, it bit a lot of us, and unfortunately it bit me pretty hard. I think the average score was just over 73 on Saturday, and I shot 79.”
Firm greens
The greens at the par-72 7344 yard Majlis Course at Emirates Golf Club are just as hard however, which could spell disaster for Woods’ hopes of reclaiming the prestigious Coffee Pot trophy this weekend.
“I was very surprised at how firm the greens were,” he said of the Majlis Course. “I don’t think there’s any overseed in them like there used to be. They used to be a little sandy, a little overseed, and there was grain but not like it is now. There’s some serious grain in these greens. But you get putting downgrain, downhill, they are some kind of quick.
“Luckily for me, the adjustment is not really that great because last week we played on what we thought was kind of concretish. It was closer to a US Open set-up than it was a regular Tour set-up, so we had some shots that were five irons and seven irons that were bouncing as high as the flag.
“So, coming over here and seeing the ball not jump that high but putting on greens that are just as fast as they were last week, it really wasn’t that big an adjustment.
“I practised on Monday and I was better on Tuesday than I was Monday and better on Wednesday than I was Tuesday, and hopefully tomorrow that trend continues.”
