Tour Championship: Tiger Woods shoots five-under-par opening round in Ryder Cup warning
American was in fine form on Thursday in Atlanta as he carded an opening round of 65 to sit on five under par
TIGER WOODS landed an early blow ahead of next week’s Ryder Cup as he put European No 1 Tommy Fleetwood firmly in his place at the Tour Championship.
The USA-Europe hostilities just a week before the teams square up in Paris have added a fascinating extra element to the end of season shoot-out, and the Woods-Fleetwood match-up attracted a huge crowd.
TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP LEADERBOARD
T1. Rickie Fowler - 5
T1. Tiger Woods - 5
T3. Gary Woodland -4
T3. Justin Rose -4
T5. Rory McIlroy -3
T5. Justin Thomas -3
T5. Tony Finau -3
It did not disappoint, but Woods outscored the European rookie 65 to 69 – and if this had been a Ryder Cup singles he would have chalked up a 2&1 victory.
And Woods finished in style by holing a 28 footer for an eagle at the final hole, taking him to five under par.
That meant the 14 time Major champion had posted his lowest opening round in 16 visits to East Lake.
So he is well-placed to challenge for a third Tour Championship title and a first victory in five years.
Both men got both got off to scrappy starts, as the American three-putted the first hole from inside 25 feet - while his playing partner carved his drive into the trees and failed to get up and down from short of the green.
Fleetwood got that shot back at the third, with a match-play style strike of the sort that will come think and fast in Paris.
The English ace converted his birdie putt from 15 feet, and Woods failed to match him from six feet closer. One up to Europe!
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They both birdied the fifth, with Woods nailing a 25 footer, and also picked up shots on the long sixth.
But the balance swung decisively in Woods’ favour after the turn, with Fleetwood stumbling to back to back bogeys and the American floating a lovely approach for his third birdie on 12.
That would have put him two up in match play, but Fleetwood pulled one back by ramming home a thirty footer on the 13th to move back to one under.
The nip and tuck continued as they traded birdies on the 14th, and their hard-fought personal battle was also helping them both to climb the leaderboard.
But a three putt bogey on the short 15th saw Fleetwood slip further behind, and he could not claw it back.
Rory McIlroy, who hit the jackpot here two years ago, opened with a 67, although it looked like being even better as he raced to a four under after just six holes. But a double bogey on the 12th put an ugly stain on his scorecard.
Ryder Cup considerations also took centre stage at the Portugal Masters, where controversial wild card pick Sergio Garcia was playing alongside one of the men who was unlucky to miss out, Matthew Wallace.
Garcia, playing for the first time in more than a month, responded by shooting his lowest first round score of the year, a five under par 66.
But he still found himself under pressure, as playing partner Wallace shot – who has already won three tournaments this year – fired a brilliant bogey-free 64 to finish as shot behind leader Lucas Herbert.
Garcia star has endured a dismal year, but he was encouraged by his performance ahead of his ninth appearance in European colours.
He said: “"I've had quite a long so more than anything it's nice to be out here and get the competition juices going.
“I would have loved it to be a little better. I played well, I didn't play extraordinarily. But it was nice to start with a low round.
“Obviously I want to try to put together as many good rounds as possible, but next week is different. The pressure is different, the atmosphere is different and I'm very excited for it.”