Woods’ first round ends quite badly

FARMINGDALE, N.Y. — Here’s a nugget you probably won’t get at his website: Tiger Woods’ closing four-hole stretch Friday was putrid. Historically bad.

Woods finished his opening round with a double bogey on No. 15, bogey on 16, par on 17 and bogey on 18. That dropped him from even par to a four-over 74.

It equaled his second-worst four-hole stretch to finish a round in his 230 professional starts on the PGA Tour. The only rougher ending came during the fourth round of the 2007 Arnold Palmer Invitational, which he finished par- bogey-double-triple for a six-over slide.

No wonder Woods felt Friday that 11 1/2 holes were enough for him.

“The way I feel right now, I don’t want to go back out there,” he said. “I’d probably be a few clubs light.”

As in, he would be tempted to give them the Bo Jackson treatment and snap them over his leg.

Woods’ 74 does not bode well. It’s the same number he posted in the first round of the U.S. Open in 1997, 1998 and 2001. He finished between 12th and 19th those years.

He won the Open last year at Torrey Pines after opening with a 72.

Dream Weaver

Drew Weaver still thinks about the 2007 Virginia Tech shootings that took the lives of 27 of his fellow students.

“We’ve moved on,” he said, “[but] it’s not something we can ever forget.”

When Weaver, 22, won the 2007 British Amateur, he dedicated his victory to the victims. He could have been one of them. After hearing gunshots, Weaver ran and found refuge in the library.

“I’ve developed a better outlook on life,” he said. “I’m a little more positive and learned to appreciate the smaller things in life.”

It’s easy to appreciate Weaver’s opening-round 69, the lowest among the U.S. Open’s 15 amateurs.

Weaver, who graduated from Virginia Tech in May with a degree in business marketing, hopes to compete in the Walker Cup, which pits American amateurs against those from Britain and Ireland. The competition will be at Merion in suburban Philadelphia in September.

“I’m looking to use [the Open] as a springboard to try to make that team,” he said.

Tap-ins

NBC Sports’ Saturday coverage will begin at 7 a.m. Pacific, four hours before it originally was scheduled to start. . . . David Duval’s opening-round 67 was stunning, considering he has made the cut in only six of 20 majors since winning the 2001 British Open. . . . Todd Hamilton’s 67 marked his first sub-70 round in seven U.S. Opens.

--

[email protected]