American Tiger Woods says he was delighted with his finish to the first round after he scrambled for a round of 70 at the US Open. The 43-year-old struggled for form with his irons but his form on the greens got him out of trouble on occasions.
He managed to one-putt on 11 greens to stay at one-under par although he is still five strokes behind first-round leader Justin Rose. Woods, a three-time US Open champion, will start Friday’s play in a share of 40th place and was happy with his performance in California.
“It was typical Pebble Beach, where the first seven holes you can get it going, and then after that you’re kind of fighting and kind of hanging on,” he said. “I kind of proved that today. I had it going early and had to fight off through the middle part of the round and hung in there with pars.
So I’m very pleased to shoot under par today. “I didn’t hit my irons as crisp as I’d have liked. I tried to miss the ball in the correct spots, and a couple of times where I had wedges in my hand I was just dumping, centre of the green, move on, get my 30 or 40-footer and move on about my business and take my medicine when I was in a bad spot, and just kind of grind it out.”
