14-time major winner’s champion Tiger Woods shot his best opening in 5 years to top the leaderboard with Rory McIlroy at the ongoing BMW Championships Thursday evening.
Shooting 29 strokes in his first nine holes, it was Woods best performance in more than 5 years. But as good as his performance was, Woods could only tie the leaderboard with North Ireland’s Rory McIlroy. The American shot 62 times in total, the same number as the 29-year-old from the UK.
“You definitely could do it today. The fairways are ample wide and the greens are soft,” Woods admitted. “All the positives right now. We’re driving it down there anywhere between 310 and 340 so it’s really not that long a golf course right not.”
McIlroy appeared as though he could’ve outperformed the 42-year-old American. He birdied 3 out of 4 and initiated a 6-birdies streak, all within 10 feet. But that was also not enough to give him the lead.
The North Irish is still the favorite to win this year’s championships. But with Wood’s performance on Thursday, it won’t be easy.
After coming back from a spinal surgery in 2017, Woods have ranked up from 656 in 2017 to 26 this year. Last month, he emerged the runners-up of the PGA Championship.
To prepare for the next stage of the tournament, the 42-year-old claims he will use an old putter that helped win 13 of 14 major titles more than ten years ago.
“I’ve hit hundreds of millions of putts with that thing,” Woods said “I’ve been monkeying around with it at home in the backyard through the summer. It just never felt right, but it feels good now.”
