Woods struggles to rediscover winning touch
Doral, Florida: Tiger Woods struggled to find his form at the WGC-Cadillac Championship on Thursday with a messy opening round that showed the former world number one continues to have deep problems with his game.
Unlike the player who seemed to hit every shot perfectly en route to capturing 14 majors, Woods was missing fairways, putts and was six shots back of leader Hunter Mahan before play was halted at Doral due to darkness after he played just 15 holes.
Woods, whose reputation was scarred by his well-publicised marital infidelities and divorce, has not won a tournament since the Australian Masters in 2009 and will need a drastic upturn in his form for that drought to end this week.
Ahead of Thursday's weather-delayed opening round, Woods said he was getting it right in practice but was so far unable to deliver when it matters.
Woods only hit five of 12 fairways on Thursday and missed five birdie putts from inside 15 feet on a course where he has three wins and never finished outside the top 10.
The fans were there in numbers to watch Woods play with his rival and fellow former world number one Phil Mickelson along with defending US Open champion Graeme McDowell.
But it was Mickelson who got the louder applause and shouts of encouragement and there was a strange quietness around Woods, in marked contrast to the past when he was roared on by legions of supporters during his three victories at Doral.
There was no hostility to Woods from the gallery, rather an awkward silence, indicating it is not his personal problems that have led to a cooling of emotions but rather recognition that they are witnessing a player finding it so difficult to recapture what made him so great.
The most dramatic example of his problems came on the 12th, his third hole, when he took out his driver and sent an awful shot 50 yards left of the fairway.
But it was not just Woods's well-noted problems from the tee that was evident -- his putting, once so astonishingly effective, was ordinary at best and his short play in general lacked finesse.
The once fluid swing now too often looks choppy and his admirers can only hope the current technique is merely a transitional phase.
Woods did not speak to reporters after his 15 holes, rushing off to catch the NBA game between the Miami Heat and Los Angeles Lakers, but he had in many ways described his problems a day earlier.
"I have to change everything -- it's the whole release pattern," said Woods. "How I release the putter, how I release the short game, how I release irons, drivers, they are all related. You just can't have one swing and not have another -- they are all interrelated."
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