Woods is stalled by late slip

An insatiable urge to maintain dominance of his craft, drove Tiger Woods to a rather curious opening round of 64 in the $5 million WCG/NEC Invitational here at Firestone yesterday. The interesting part about it was that it ended with figures of bogey, birdie, bogey, which is a sequence decidedly alien to his stunning repertoire.

In the event, it gave him a one-stroke lead at the end of the day over compatriot Jim Furyk, while the European challenge was headed by Ryder Cup partners Darren Clarke and Lee Westwood on four under par. And it came only four days after Woods had thrilled the golfing world with a memorable triumph in the USPGA Championship at Valhalla.

"I didn't drive the ball very well - in fact my driving was terrible on the back nine," was the perfectionist's assessment of his effort. In more realistic terms, however, Woods added: "I just wanted to get off to a good start, so I feel pretty pleased at the way I played overall."

As it happened, he might have been caught by Westwood or Jose-Maria Olazabal, but they finished disappointingly. The Englishman, who reaped the benefit of a putting lesson from Mark O'Meara, was five under par playing the last, but instead of the desired birdie, he hooked his drive into trees and made a bogey for a 66.

For his part, the Spaniard retained much of the sparkle which delivered a course-record third-round of 63 and an eventual share of fourth place at Valhalla last weekend. But he was ultimately undone by his long-time Achilles heel when, going down the 18th , he drove under the lip of a fairway trap for a closing bogey to a round of 67. "That was my only blemish but driving remains my main concern and I'm off now to work on it," said Olazabal, who felt good about revisiting former glories. This is where he shot an opening 61 on the way to a magnificent, 12-stroke victory in the World Series in 1990.

Even against that background, the general scoring was remarkably hot, giving the difficulty of a par-70 layout stretching to 7,139 yards. But the challenge was eased markedly by the soft condition of the celebrated South Course, where it took a bad shot to run off the fairway, while the greens were unusually receptive.

Woods needed little help from nature, certainly not at the 497-yard second which he reduced to a drive, six-iron and one-foot putt for an eagle three. Then came putts of 10 feet, six feet and 10 feet for birdies at the fourth, fifth and eighth, which brought him to the turn in 30 - five under par. Further birdies followed at the 11th and 12th leaving him seven under for the round with six to play.

The finish was decidedly untidy, however, by his elevated standards. Down the 625-yard 16th, which is a beautifully-conceived par-five with water fronting the green, he overshot the target with a sand-wedge third and eventually had to hole a five-foot return putt for a six. And on the 18th, he drove into the right rough from where an attempted recovery hit a tree and came back to him, making a bogey almost inevitable.

Meanwhile, after the sensational scenes at Valhalla, the behaviour of the Firestone galleries in pursuit of the Tiger, bordered on the demure. And he noticed how quiet it was. "It was really nice without the screaming and yelling," he said.

This was conservative, middle America, where experienced, mature spectators viewed the star attraction as a seriously good golfer, not a pop-idol.