Tiger in the mix after first round in Australia

Associated Press

MELBOURNE, Australia

Playing golf in Melbourne’s famous sandbelt region suits Tiger Woods just fine.

The Victoria course measures only 6,886 yards, making it one of the shortest Woods has played. Yet he found it challenging enough Thursday in the opening round of the Australian Masters that he had to make a 7-foot putt on the final hole for a 2-under 69. That left him four shots off the lead in the last tournament where he is the defending champion.

Woods hit driver only on the par 5s, a similar strategy to what he used last year in winning at Kingston Heath. He switched irons on the 257-yard opening hole to make sure he wound up just short of the green.

“Why can’t we build golf courses like this in America?” Woods said as he walked to the seventh tee. “This is cool. This is so cool.”

All he needs now is to putt better.

As has been the case for so much of this forgettable season, Woods simply doesn’t make as many putts as he once did. In his first competitive round at Victoria, he followed his plan to perfection by missing only two fairways and having birdie putts on all but two greens. But he took 19 putts on his outward nine and was fooled for most of the day.

“That’s probably the highest score I could have shot,” Woods said.

Adam Bland and Alistair Presnell, roommates while they traveled the Nationwide Tour in the United States this year, each had a 6-under 65, with Bland making birdie on his last four holes. They were joined atop the leaderboard by Daniel Gaunt, who was equally impressive under the warming of the afternoon sun.

Woods spoke about the importance of keeping his tee shots in the fairway and his approach shots below the hole, and that’s what he did. But his birdie putts rarely had a chance because there was not enough pace. On his lone bogey, his 45-foot birdie putt came up 8 feet short and he three-putted. On two birdie tries inside 8 feet, the putt broke below the cup.

“I gave myself a lot of looks early. I just kept leaving them short,” Woods said. “I was in all the right spots. But they’re really slow up the hill and really quick going down, and I didn’t make the adjustment.”