Tiger Woods had a rough start on Thursday at the Honda Classic, shooting an even-par 70 in the opening round to fall six strokes back of the lead as the tournament moves to its second day on Friday.
Making matters even worse for Woods, he was forced to remove his shoes and socks to take a shot from a water hazard on the par-four sixth, after his ball was partially dipped into the water. Luckily for Woods, he was able to put the shot onto the fairway with one of his irons and then finished the hole to save par. Woods finished the day behind tournament leader Camilo Villegas, who was able to convert an eagle on the final hole to take the lead over the field for the first time since winning the tournament at the same course in 2010.
"How about that?" Woods asked of his shot from the water left of the sixth fairway. "It was only half submerged, so I could play some kind of explosion shot and get it back in the fairway. I got in there and I wasn't trying to advance it very far, just make sure I got it back in the fairway and give myself some kind of wedge shot in there, which I did, and I got it up and down."
Woods's shot was similar to one Jean Van de Velde had to make on the 18th hole at Carnoustie during the 1999 Open Championship, when he blew a three shot lead before losing in a playoff. Woods put on his rain pants for the shot and was able to splash the ball out and make a put to keep par for his round.
"I was 1-over at the time, and if that ball is not playable from where it's at, where I crossed (the hazard) was pretty far back and I would have had to have dropped -- I couldn't even get an angle in the first cut and had to drop in the primary and had to lay up and didn't get that up and down ... I'm looking at a 6, 3 over. All of a sudden I flip it, make par there and birdie the next. Could easily have been 3 and all of a sudden I'm even."
Rory McIlroy also finished even for the first round and had a bogey on the par-15 18th green to finish his day. McIlroy has had a slow start to the year and missed the cut in Abu Dhabi before being eliminated in the first round at Match Play along with Woods in the first round.
"I only had 105 yards in for my third and ended up taking a 6," he said. "Wasn't the nicest way to finish. I saw enough pretty good golf out there to be positive going into the next few days."
Both Woods and McIlroy struggled at times on Thursday, with the number one ranked golfer hitting 12 of 18 greens, while Woods hit two birdies and two bogeys on the day. Woods did better by hitting 14 of 18 greens, but his long game was off and he only had five birdie putts on the day inside 15 feet. His short game wasn't working as well, as he missed six of his putts between 10 and 20 feet from the hole.
Woods is participating in his fourth event of the year after missing the cut in Abu Dhabi and getting eliminated in the first round at Match Play. Woods won his other tournament at the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines for his 75th career title.
McIlroy will tee off in the morning at 7:25 AM, the same time Woods had in the first round, while Woods will tee off for the second round at 12:25 in the afternoon. Television coverage of the event starts on Friday from 3-6 p.m. ET on Golf Channel and goes over the weekend on Golf Channel from 1-3 p.m. ET and on NBC 3-6 p.m. ET.
McIlroy made news by walking off the course at his ninth hole of the day, saying to reporters that he "was in a bad place mentally."
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