Jim Furyk, four others, share ATandT National lead as Woods, Mickelson stumble
Released on = July 6, 2007, 11:59 am
Press Release Author = GolfPublisher Syndications
Industry = Media
Press Release Summary = Can Tiger Woods bounce back from an opening-round 73 at the AT&T National? PGA Tour news at WorldGolf.com
Press Release Body = From WorldGolf.com News Services, Golf Publisher Syndications
As Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson both struggled in their first competitive outings since the U.S. Open, five players shot opening rounds of 4-under-par 66 to share the lead Thursday in the AT&T National.
Jim Furyk, Joe Ogilvie, K.J. Choi, Stuart Appleby and Vijay Singh all finished at 4 under to lead by one stroke in rain-softened playing conditions at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md. Fred Funk, Corey Pavin, Steve Stricker and Rich Beem are among a group of seven players tied for sixth after shooting 67.
Meanwhile, Woods - host for the new tournament that returned the PGA Tour to the Washington D.C. area - struggled with his putter and finished the day tied for 77th after a 3-over 73. Starting for the first time in nearly three weeks, Woods missed a pair of putts inside three feet and made seven bogeys.
\"Never got the speed right,\" Woods said in his post-round press conference. \"All of my putts I missed were short - way short, actually. It was a struggle. I could not get a ball to the hole.
\"I worked so hard at the U.S. Open feeding putts, feeding putts and didn\'t practice probably as much as I probably should have last week on my putting and unfortunately it showed up glaringly.\"
Mickelson experienced similar frustrations as he shot a 4-over 74 in his first round since missing the cut at the U.S. Open, no thanks to a wrist injury that has hampered him since late May. Mickelson, who failed to record a birdie while making 15 pars to go with a pair of bogeys and a double bogey, said he was a little rusty.
\"Last week, I thought I was playing pretty well,\" Mickelson told reporters. \"Today, I thought I hit a reasonable number of good shots, but I scored terrible.
\"The course wasn\'t that hard to keep it around par or under. I really struggled on the greens. I just didn\'t make any putts.\"
Furyk, whose round included five birdies and one bogey, said hitting fairways was the strength of his game Thursday.
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July 6, 2007 Any opinions expressed above are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of the management.
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