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| October 20, 2001 | Saturday | Shaba'an 2, 1422 |
Woods fails to impress
LAKE BUENA VISTA (Florida), Oct 19: Five players shot 65s to grab a share of the lead at the $3.4 million National Car Rental Golf Classic PGA Tour event on Thursday as Tiger Woods marked his return to the sport.
Fourteen others are within two shots of the leaders, but Woods is not among them after ending his five-week hiatus with a three-under-par 69 that left him in a tie for 31st, four shots back.
Battling blustery conditions, Stewart Cink, Scott McCarron, Steve Lowery, Len Mattiace and Shaun Micheel shot seven—under 65s to lead the pack as David Toms, Vijay Singh of Fiji and Canadian Mike Weir were among seven players to card 66s.
Woods has no financial problems. He leads the tour in earnings — this year and all-time.
But the superstar struggled during his first event since last month’s Canadian Open, finishing his front nine with a double-bogey and his back with a bogey.
Woods drove into a lateral hazard at the 455-yard 18th — his ninth hole — at the Palm course and ended up missing a six-foot bogey putt. That followed a string of three birdies in seven holes.
Leading first round (U.S. unless stated):
65 Stewart Cink, Steve Lowery, Len Mattiace, Scott McCarron, Shaun Micheel
66 Carl Paulson, Vijay Singh (Fiji), Jerry Smith, David Toms, Mike Weir (Canada), Brian Wilson, Kaname Yokoo (Japan)
67 Robert Allenby (Australia), Danny Ellis, Bernhard Langer (Germany), Davis Love III, Blaine McCallister, Lee Porter, Bob Tway
68 Jeremy Anderson, Briny Baird, Mark Brooks, Jose Coceres (Argentina), Chris DiMarco, Jeff Hart, Skip Kendall, Neal Lancaster, Billy Mayfair, Tom Pernice, Jr., Scott Verplank
69 Stephen Ames (Trinidad), Stuart Appleby (Australia), Jay Don Blake, John Cook, Glen Day, Scott Dunlap, Cliff Kresge, J.L. Lewis, Mark McCumber, Larry Mize, David Peoples, Chris Perry, Tom Purtzer, John Riegger, Rory Sabbatini (South Africa), Chris Smith, Kevin Sutherland, Grant Waite (New Zealand), Jay Williamson, Tiger Woods.—Reuters
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