All is well as Tiger bounces back

Nobody really thought that he had gone away, that the hunger had abated. Yesterday came the proof. Although there was a surreal feel to the day, with early-morning fog delaying the start of play for slightly over two hours, and an eerie kind of polite applause rather than manic obsession from the sell-out crowd, Tiger Woods took it all in his stride.

The result? Eight birdies, no bogeys, and a sense that all was right with the golfing world again as he immediately jumped into a share of the first round lead in the Dubai Desert Classic at the Emirates Golf Club.

"Probably the best athlete in the world," observed Thomas Bjorn of Woods, in the sort of tone normally associated with those praising a certain lager from his homeland. The Dane, in fact, apart from simply playing alongside the world number one, matched him in shooting an eight-under-par 64.

And, for Padraig Harrington, in the match behind them, there was also the satisfaction of keeping a bogey off his card in a round of 66 that, for the third successive week, immediately put him into a challenging position in a tournament.

Not so content was Darren Clarke. Although he has a tournament win under his belt already this season, in South Africa, this is his first outing on the European Tour; and after a round of 71 that included 32 putts on greens as near to perfection as it is possible to get, he wasn't in any mood to hang around.

Similarly, Colin Montgomerie, the third member of the three-ball with Harrington and Clarke, was to the point in expressing his disgust with his own putting. "That's my ninth round of the year and the ninth time I've putted terribly," he said.

Woods, though, had no complaints. In conditions that reminded him of southern California where he grew up, he compiled what he estimated to be his "best scoring round" so far this year.

"It's really nice to putt on greens that are this smooth and this true," he said. In truth, Woods' approach play held the key to his round and the longest birdie putt he had to make all day was actually his eighth and last, a 20-footer at the ninth (his 18th) hole.

Otherwise, it was pretty much target golf apart from a six-iron tee-shot at the seventh, his 16th, where he attempted to hit a "punched bleeder", but instead duck-hooked and was forced to make a great save.

On Wednesday last, Woods was brought to the Godolphin stables to meet the racehorse that the Maktoum family have named in his honour and it's that sort of awe in which Woods is held by most people that could potentially affect his playing partners. Certainly, Pierre Fulke seemed to feel the heat in opening with a relatively modest 73.

Bjorn has started to get used to the distractions of playing alongside him. "He is great to play with and I enjoy his company . . . but you have got to realise he is tough to play with because there are a lot of things going on. I get intimidated by six or seven bodyguards trying to run over me every time he starts to move," explained Bjorn, adding: "But it is probably a hundred times worse for him. And that's his biggest advantage. He can actually concentrate for 18 holes over every single golf shot." That's something which Harrington is also aspiring to, and he was particularly satisfied with the fact that his card contained only birdies and pars. Playing in the match immediately behind the Woods threeball, Harrington was also afraid that the crowd distractions would spill back.

In fact, on the very first hole, a spectator ducked under a rope and took a shortcut up the fairway to rush ahead to the Woods group while they were preparing to tee-off. "We all looked at each other as if to say, `I hope this isn't going to happen all day', but it didn't and there weren't really any distractions."

Harrington endured a "shaky start", amassing six successive pars on a stretch of the course that was yielding plenty of birdies. "I was trying a bit too hard, and when I relaxed, everything started coming together," he remarked.

The 16th, his seventh hole, started the sequence. He hit a nine-iron approach to eight feet above the hole and rolled in the putt for his first birdie and followed up with further birdies on the 17th, 18th and, then, the first where he put his wedge approach to 12 inches. His other two birdies came at the third and then a 10-footer, his longest birdie putt of the day, at the seventh.

Elsewhere, Eamonn Darcy showed his liking for the course with a 68, and Des Smyth signed for a 69 that could have been even better. Smyth, in fact, was five-under-par for his round as he played his approach to the 18th green. "I had 78 yards, which was either a big lobwedge or a punched sand wedge." He went with the lob wedge and, to his horror, duffed the ball in to the water in front of the green. He finished his day with a double-bogey seven. "It's not a disaster, but it is a huge disappointment," he said.

Smyth played some beautiful golf throughout his round and picked up six birdies - the longest putt being from 12 feet at the 467-yards 12th where he hit a five-wood approach - with only a bogey at the seventh and that double-bogey spoiling his card.

Paul McGinley, who has been battling a heavy cold for the past few days, opened with a two-under-par 70, and remarked: "This is a sprint, not a marathon, to get to 20-under or 21-under which will probably win the tournament . . . and I have got off to a very slow start. It's very disappointing, but I'll just have to get out there and do the best I can."