Tiger Woods just completed a very strong 3-under 67 in the first round of the British Open, the kind of round that makes you think he could easily be near the top of the leaderboard Sunday as he searches for his fourth British Open title and 15 overall major.
Woods’s round was red-hot early, but he slowed dramatically to just par golf on the back nine. Playing conservatively with the driver staying in the bag most of the day, Woods was strategic in the way he went around Roayl Lytham and St. Annes.
Still, Woods finds himself three shots behind leader Adam Scott, who gave a shot back late in the day and still shot 64, just one off the all-time British Open scoring record. Zach Johnson, a winner at the John Deere Classic last week with a rather poor British Open record, fired a 65.
Just as Woods was finishing, some of the big names of the afternoon were teeing off. Those names include Rory McIlroy, Luke Donald and Phil Mickelson. So there is still about six hours of golf to be played at the British Open today. But so far, the strong winds that had been predicted for the tournament have not kicked up. That could be an advantage for the morning players if the weather turns even slight bad in the afternoon.