The crowds behaved, so did the course, and Tiger Woods took full advantage. With no wind to speak of and Kingston Heath’s greens so soft they took the world No.1 by surprise, the American superstar delivered for the Australian Masters promoters and thousands of fans who thronged to see him.
His six-under-par opening round 66 had him tied for the lead after Thursday’s opening round, with Australian up-and-comer James Nitties and South African 21-year-old Branden Grace.
With all tickets long sold out, a crowd of 21,356 crammed into the tight Melbourne sandbelt layout, the vast majority following Woods, and playing partners Rod Pampling and Craig Parry, a few climbing trees and fences for a better view.
Starting early from the 10th, the 14-time major winner, who last played in Australia 11 years ago, showed a lack of local knowledge would not stop him.
He birdied both par fives on the back nine, then ripped into top gear on the way home, notching five birdies in eight holes to move to seven under and the outright lead.
His only blemish came on the par four ninth, Woods’ last, when he pulled his tee shot into a tree and was happy to escape with a bogey.
Grace had earlier reached seven under, before a bogey on the 17th, while Nitties birdied two of his three closing holes to ensure an Australian presence at the top of the leaderboard.
Woods acknowledged the conditions made scoring simpler than expected, saying he and his playing partners “can’t believe how soft the greens were”.
“One, the wind wasn’t really blowing. Two, the greens were soft, so we can be pretty aggressive and hit it into the greens,” Woods said.
“Some of the flags where I thought that I wouldn’t take a run at, I wouldn’t be aggressive to, I was able to get to some of those flags.”
But he predicted it would get tougher.
“It’s so dependent on how firm the greens get and if the wind ever comes up.”
Having started as a hot favourite, Woods was even moreso after his ominous first round, TAB Sportsbet bringing him into $1.75 from a pre-event $2.50.
Australia’s top-ranked player Geoff Ogilvy, who had been second favourite, failed to capitalise on the conditions with his even par opening round.
New Zealand’s Doug Holloway and Australia’s Cameron Percy were a shot off the pace, with Australians Mat Goggin, Greg Chalmers and Peter Nolan two shots from the lead.
Goggin was the only member of the top eight to play in the afternoon.
Aside from a few overenthusiastic fans who took photos as Woods’ group were playing their shots, concerns that a massive crowd focused on one player and a tight course might make for trouble did not play out.
“The people were extremely respectful, they were actually trying to police themselves, which was great, you don’t find that very often,” Woods said.
“The galleries are very knowledgeable, they were trying to help us out with some of the people who were taking pictures.”
Nitties, coming off a promising first year on the US PGA Tour, surprised himself by joining the lead, shaking off “rusty” early form with an eagle on the par five 14th, his fifth hole, to spark his charge.
“I just played myself into form by the end of the round,” Nitties said.
Grace, hoping to use the European Tour co-sanctioned event to hold onto his card, has played in Australia just once before, in the Jack Newton junior tournament in Sydney in 2006.
How Tiger Woods tamed Kingston Heath (note Woods started at the 10th hole)
hole: par score
10 4 4
11 3 3
12 5 4
13 4 4
14 5 4
15 3 3
16 4 4
17 4 4
18 4 4
1 5 4
2 4 4
3 4 4
4 4 3
5 4 4
6 4 3
7 4 3
8 3 2
9 4 5
TOTAL 72 66
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