Tiger Woods tried to come off like it wasn’t a big deal.
As if it was just a solid opening round, much like the many he’s played throughout his career.
“I got off to a good start today,” Woods said simply.
But, be sure, this wasn’t just a good start; just another 1-under-par round of 71.
Not after last week’s debacle in Akron; the low point in this lowest of seasons for the beleaguered world No. 1.
Thursday’s 71 wasn’t ever going to be good enough to put Woods at the top of the leaderboard — not at a soft, accommodating Whistling Straits — but it was nonetheless important.
He needed to show the world, his peers and, maybe just as importantly, himself, that he wasn’t, as one wag in the media center put it to Woods on Tuesday, now suddenly “like, the worst golfer in the world."
Woods needed to make a statement on Thursday. He knew it and so did his caddie, Steve Williams, who gave his man a little pep talk as they played their final hole, the 446-yard, par-4 ninth.
“It's like Stevie was saying to me, ‘I played too good not to shoot under par,’” Woods said later.
Woods responded in a way he just couldn‘t last week, hitting his approach to eight feet and calmly converting the putt, one of four birdies in his round to offset three bogeys.
“It would have been very disappointing and frustrating to end up at even par as well as I played today,” he said. “To make that putt and to shoot under par feels like that's what I should have shot. And that's a good feeling.”
And a rare feeling.
It was only his second under-par round since the Saturday 66 he shot at Pebble Beach; a span of 13 rounds. He’d turned in seven straight over-par rounds before Thursday.
Though his language and demeanor when talking to the media afterward was matter-of-fact, Woods may have betrayed his true emotions right after his putt fell on the last. Williams extended his hand but Woods instead clenched his caddie’s fist and drew him close, like what he’d just done had meant something.
Whether it did will be judged over the next three days, but there’s no doubt the good start helped his confidence.
“Certainly it does,” Woods admitted. “Better. It feels better.”
He said he was happiest with the fact that he controlled his trajectory — a longtime obsession with him — which is especially important in windy conditions.
Woods hit only eight fairways and 12 greens in regulation, but he had only 28 putts, a good sign given his cluelessness on the greens of late.
In a sense, Woods got lucky in being drawn to tee off on the tenth hole.
If Whistling Straits has an easy stretch, it’s the first five holes of the back nine.
The goatee that became the motif of last week’s misery shaven, Woods confidently struck a three wood on the tenth, then flipped a wedge to 12 feet and made the putt.
The gallery exploded in applause when that putt dropped because so many haven’t for Woods this year.
As he walked past me from that green, I thought I recognized him again.
Gone was the look of the disaffected, distracted man he’s been of late.
Back was that old, familiar stare.
When he’s been at his best, Woods, who as a child was taught by a psychologist to hypnotize himself, gets into an almost trance-like state.
The drive off the 11th, a long par five, was a swing full of confidence. He hit it very far and, beyond, found the short grass, leaving just a long iron into a difficult green. Woods used his putter from off the green and made birdie.
Two under through two holes. He escaped with a great up-and-down for par on the short par 3 12th — his wedge sailed over the flag, into the gorse — and then birdied the next. Three under par through four.
In the end, that was just a cushion as he struggled in spots as the course bared its teeth. Woods will be especially annoyed at playing the remaining three par fives at one over par but, in the end, it was a good day.
“I felt like I could shoot something in the 60s,” he said. “Didn’t quite happen. Lost a few shots out there.”
He was also happy that he’d found some joy on the putting surfaces, though he left a handful of putts short, right in the heart of the hole.
“I felt so much more comfortable,” he said, “I got my lines back. I got everything lined up where I could release the blade, toe is moving again, which is great, something I like to feel.”
So, what was the difference between last week’s 18-over par — his worst ever score at a tournament — and this round?
“Well, just one week,” he said, “That’s the way it goes. I mean, everyone has bad weeks.”
Don’t they?
