Pleased with the way I hit the ball, says Woods

The former World No.1, paired with World No.1 Luke Donald and World No.3 Rory McIlroy, scored a two-under 70.

“I hit the ball well all day today. It was a good ball striking round. I had a hard time reading the greens out there. The greens were pretty grainy and I just had a hard time getting a feel for it. Towards the end I hit some pretty good putts but overall I got fooled a lot on my reads,” said Woods.

About reading the greens, he said: “It’s harder to read them when they are grainy. It’s a little bit easier when it’s just pure bent or poa. But these have a little bit of grain. I hit a lot of good putts after I saw someone hit a putt, but other than that, it was just a little bit a little more difficult than it should have been.’

He said that getting into a rhythm was the most difficult thing and added that he got into it by the second hole. “I think just getting into the flow of the round. Just getting into the rhythm and the flow of hitting shots like that in a competitive environment. I think by the second hole, I was back into the rhythm of playing, which was good. I would like it to be good on the first hole but a break like that, it’s going to take a little bit,” Woods said.

Woods said that McIlroy, who shares the lead with Robert Karlsson, chipped and putted well. It was good to be out there with McIlroy and Donald. We talked quite a bit. Rory didn’t quite hit the ball as well as he would like, but boy, he sure chipped and putted well today. It was good stuff to watch,” he said.