HOYLAKE, England - Love trouble. Management trouble. Lawsuits, counter-suits.
Tiger Woods is back at the majors.
Seems like he was never away.
After a shaky start to the British Open, Woods ripped through Royal Liverpool on Thursday much as he did eight years ago when he won the claret jug for the third time. A 30-foot birdie from the fringe of the 11th green got him going. Four more birdies in the next five holes carried Woods to a 3-under 69, leaving him just three shots behind Rory McIlroy.
Not bad for a guy playing his first major of the year, who went months without being able to swing a club after back surgery.
'I'm only going to get better,' Woods said. 'I'm getting stronger, I'm getting faster, I'm getting more explosive. The ball is starting to travel again. And those are all positive things.'
Rory McIlroy, in fact, is so besieged by issues that the best he could do in the first round of the Open Championship was shoot 66 to lead by a stroke.
Now the real problems start.
The ink hadn't even dried on his scorecard signature Thursday when the 25-year-old tousle-headed lad from Holywood, Northern Ireland was reminded - as if he needed to be - that the R&A probably will not proceed directly to Saturday, skipping Friday altogether.
That means he's going to have to tee it up at Royal Liverpool on that six-letter day beginning with an F.
And Friday has not been kind to McIlroy lately.
His second-round 78 after an opening 64 in last week's Scottish Open wasn't even his worst reversal of fortune this season. He went 63-78 at the Memorial Tournament, drawing a mystified 'How can you do that?' quote from the host, Jack Nicklaus, and for the season, he's more than four strokes worse on Day 2 than Day 1.
He is a cumulative is 57 strokes under par in first rounds, and - pending this week's second-round contribution - nine-over on Fridays.
It can't all be due to off-course issues, like his broken engagement to tennis star Caroline Wozniacki and his litigious split with his former management group.
But whatever it is, he's getting used to talking about it.
'I had a bad Friday afternoon at Augusta, and just made the cut,' he said Thursday. 'And then I started off horrifically at Quail Hollow on Friday afternoon. And then did the same thing [at The Players] at Sawgrass. That's like three tournaments in a row. That's when I was conscious of it.
'I was 3-over through 9 on Friday at Wentworth, and then I was able to get it back in form. And then Memorial obviously was the biggest one. There's nothing really to it. It's just maybe having higher expectations going out on a Friday because you shot a low round, and just trying to put those expectations aside and just try and take it one hole at a time.'
McIlroy birdied the second hole Thursday and never looked back. He was three-under-par on each nine to overtake 21-year-old Italian prodigy Matteo Manassero's earlier 67, and got in two shots ahead of a large group at four-under 68 that included two more Italians, brothers Edoardo and Francesco Molinari, Sergio Garcia, Adam Scott and the only two Americans within the top eight, Jim Furyk and Brooks Koepka.
All but Scott shot their low numbers in the calmer morning half of the draw, with the breeze picking up slightly in the later part of a gorgeous sunny day on the Wirral peninsula, across the Mersey from Liverpool.
The day was notable on many fronts, from the return of Tiger Woods, coming off back surgery with a strong 69 ... to Ernie Els taking three putts from 15 inches on his very first hole then missing an 18-incher three holes later ... to Henrik Stenson calmly breaking a club over his knee, handing the pieces to his caddie with a certain amount of style ... to Phil Mickelson hitting it out of bounds on No. 18 - on his second shot ... to the sad 90 shot by Aussie Bryden MacPherson, who began his back nine as follows: double bogey, double bogey, quadruple bogey, bogey, triple bogey.
It featured a surprise 70 by Open (and links course) rookie David Hearn of Brantford and a 71 from his fellow Canadian Graham DeLaet.
It included an 18th hole expletive from Tiger Woods over camera shutters and smartphones not turned to silent mode, a good many irons hit from the tee to avoid the hairy rough, and a forecast for Friday that may give McIlroy and his fellow prosperers from the best of Thursday's half of the draw cause to smile.
It calls for 'sharp, possibly thundery showers' with gusty winds early, clearing and warmer later, meaning the frontrunners may be able to put even more distance between themselves and their pursuers.
As for The Leader, he is preparing to treat his Friday like just another day, though hopefully not the kind of day it was in 2010 at St. Andrews, when he shot 80 after having opened with a 63. He said no one in the crowd at Hoylake - though Liverpudlians are known for their wit - gave him a hard time about any of that history.
'Yeah, I did get terrific support, even though I support Man United,' he said, smiling. 'No, I took my hat off on 16 or 17, walking up the fairway, I heard someone say, 'Get a haircut.' Apart from that, no. The support out there was really great. And hopefully I can give them a lot more to cheer about over the next few days.
'I mean, you enjoy every minute of it, even - I mentioned to J.P. today, my caddie, walking up just the third fairway, all three of us in the group had hit good shots in. And I turned around and said, 'There's nothing like the atmosphere of an Open Championship.' It is different. The crowds are so enthusiastic and knowledgeable, it's just a pleasure to play in front of them.'
Not everyone had a ball: two-time Open champ Els, for instance, ended with a 79, Masters winners Bubba Watson and Angel Cabrera each shot 76 and were beaten by 64-year-old Tom Watson's opening 73.
But all that was on a stunningly beautiful Thursday.
A good start, said Edoardo Molinari, 'is always important any week. But I think with the weather coming in for the next few days, it was very important to shoot a good number today.
'And you can play a little bit more defensively, if you need, in the next few days.' Vancouver Sun
Post By http://sports.nationalpost.com/2014/07/17/rory-mcilroy-starts-strong-at-british-open-2014-but-friday-curse-looms/
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