Tiger Woods shot his lowest score in 16 months, a four-under-par 66 that left him four strokes behind leader Scott Langley after the opening round of the Greenbrier Classic on Thursday.
Though conditions were relatively easy on Greenbrier’s rain-softened Old White Course, the round was a welcome reprieve for Woods, whose shocking slump over the past year raised questions of whether he ever again would be competitive.
Two weeks before the British Open at St Andrews, where he has won twice, the 39-year-old former world number one declared he was “very close” to hitting top form.
People think I’m crazy when I say I’m close but I felt like I was close
“People think I’m crazy when I say I’m close but I felt like I was close,” Woods said after a round that included seven birdies, one bogey and a double-bogey in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.
“This past week was a good week of practice and today I hit the ball well all day until a couple of tee shots at the end, tugged a couple.”
Woods described as “stupid” his double-bogey at the par-four sixth, his 15th hole, where he left his approach in the bunker, but he roared back like his old self to finish with three consecutive birdies.
“I was hitting the ball too well to end up one-under,” said Woods, who went on to card his best score since a five-under 65 in the third round of last year’s Honda Classic.