The day started so full of promise as the crowds at Congressional Country Club lined up from tee to green to greet Tiger Woods at his own tournament.
But it didn’t take long for his problems to begin: A pair of par putts that lipped out on the first two holes. A 15-minute delay after rain showers soaked the course. Then another bogey at No. 6.
Three birdies on the front nine allowed Woods a brief stay below par. But his troubles mounted again on the back nine with four more bogeys, including one at No. 18, to finish tied for 77th with a three-over-par 73.
“I never got the speed right,” Woods said of the rain-softened greens. “All of my putts I missed were short — way short, actually. It was a struggle.”
It got to the point Woods started placing iron shots below the holes to give himself easier putts. But nothing worked consistently.
“I’ll have to figure something out, different strokes, stances to get the ball to the hole,” said Woods, who immediately headed to the practice green after his press interviews concluded. “Because evidently what I’m doing is not even close to being right.”
Short hitters thrive
As a kid growing up in Prince George’s County, Fred Funk didn’t have many opportunities to play at exclusive Congressional Country Club.
“They’d check my ID and kick me out at the gate,” Funk quipped Thursday.
But there was another reason that the short-hitting Funk never felt comfortable at the Bethesda club — the Blue Course’s suffocating length.
In Thursday’s opening round of the AT&T National, however, Funk shot a 3-under-par 67. So did another short-hitting veteran, Corey Pavin, who ranks dead last in driving distance, No. 190, on the tour.
So has Congressional Blue become a short-hitters’ course?
“Guys are hitting it a lot further than they used toand I’m further behind in length off the tee than before,” said Pavin, 47. “But you get on a golf course like this and accuracy is very important off the tee. If you don’t drive the ball in the fairway, the rough is very tough. It isn’t that long, but it’s very thick.”
Familiar Fluff for Furyk
Tied for first with five other golfers after an opening-round 66, Jim Furyk has a long way to go before thinking about his first tournament win of 2007. But having caddie Mike “Fluff” Cowan, a member at Congressional, at least gives him an extra level of comfort. Cowan said he read just two putts for Furyk on Thursday. But that course knowledge is there if needed.
“I’d like to have a putt on Sunday to win and for him to say, ‘It looks like it’s a cup out, but it’s right edge’ and have that make the biggest difference in the world,” Furyk said. “He’ll make some reads this week that will definitely help. It’s my job to knock them in.”
Andrade in hunt
The leader for much of the morning, Billy Andrade, walked up to the par-5 ninth-considered one of the course’s birdie holes-with a chance to enter the clubhouse as the outright leader. A bad drive and three puts later, though, he concluded an otherwise ideal Thursday with his only bogey for the round.
Andrade hit his tee shot into a tough lie in the right rough and was forced to chip out on to the fairway. He hit an 8-iron to 40 feet from the hole, but his long birdie putt came up short and his 4-foot par chance lipped out.
“It was a hard two-putt,” said Andrade, who won at Avenel in 1991. “They are very difficult when you’re defensive putting because they can wiggle any which way out there.”
AT&T NATIONAL
When » Today-Sunday.
Where » Congressional Country Club, Bethesda.
Purse » $6 million; $1.08 million to winner.
Tickets » $20 today; $25 Saturday-Sunday. Active duty military personnel and children 12-and-under will be admitted free. Call 1-800-594-TIXX.
Parking » No public parking on site. Shuttle bus service will be available at several nearby lots.
— Kevin Dunleavy and Seth Hoffman contributed to this report
