Inspiring Golf

Tiger leads PGA  Championship! Tiger finishes reound one without any Bogeys and with FIVE Birdies to post a field leading 67! Harrington, playing with Tiger, finishes with one blemish at the #1 hole (tenth hole of thier round) also with FIVE Birdies lurks but one stroke back! The late Tee Time starter in the field include some big names who will have contend with Woods atop the leaderboard throughout thier round unless someone can string a lot of Birdies together early.

"Something I've always believe in is just keep yourself around," Woods said. "You don't have to be eight ahead after the first round. Just got to keep plodding along. Major championships are set up so they're difficult. They beat you into making mistakes. And the whole idea is not to make many mistakes." 

A few tees were moved forward to account for the wind. Even so, Hazeltine played 7,660 yards from the tee to the hole, and Woods made some of his best birdies with long clubs. He opened his scoring with a 3-iron to 20 feet at No. 12, and picked up three birdies on the par 5s, including a 3-wood to a back bunker of the 651-yard 15th, with a breeze at his back. 

He took the outright lead on the par-5 seventh with a 349-yard tee shot, followed by a 6-iron to 30 feet. 

"He's human," Allenby said. "And the golf course is in front of all of us. And obviously, he's the best in the world, so we expect him to win, because he's the best. He should. But you know what? It's three more days to go. And a lot can happen." 

Woods knows better than most that the tournament is far from over. He was atop the leaderboard at consecutive majors in 1998 after the opening round and watched someone else hoist the trophy. 

Still, it was a powerful start. 

"There's a lot of guys out here that can hang with him when they're playing their best," Rory McIlroy said after a 71. "But the thing is, Tiger plays his best most of the time. And even when he doesn't play his best, he usually wins."

There is more excitement to a Tourney that is hotly contested than a match that has only a question of a course record in contention. Padraig and Tiger both opened with 5 Birdies. Woods leads by being Bogey free while Harrington suffered but one blemish in the round. I hope to see them fighting tooth & nail like this through Sunday!

I have never seen a Tournament where the final pairing from the previous week, starts the next one paired and remains paired all four days due to thier scoring. That would be unique perhaps.