Tiger Woods is showing some of his old form once again, as he is in the lead at the WGC-Cadillac Championship at Doral after shooting a 6-under 66 to take the top spot on the leaderboard.
According to ESPN.com, Woods had a fantastic day after taking some putting help from Steve Stricker, putting in nine birdies throughout the reound on Thursday to take the early lead at the tournament. Woods hit four birdie putts over 15 feet and was able to rebound from three bogeys to share the top spot of the leaderboard with a number of name players, including Bubba Watson, Graeme McDowell, Sergio Garcia and Fredrik Jacobson.
Rory McIlroy continued to struggle after walking off at the Honda Classic, which led to him having deny his breakup with tennis star Caroline Wozniacki, and shot a 1-over 73 on the day after hitting just two birdies.
Woods was on his game at the course where he has done so well in the past, overcoming a three-putt bogey and making more birdies in a round since last year in September.
"I felt we needed to shoot at least a couple under on each side to be right there," Woods said. "I got a few more."
Woods did excellent work with his putter, making birdies in the 11th and 12th holes before shooting bogeys at the 13th and 14th. But he rebounded later with birdies on three of the final six holes and was able to stay ahead of the rest of the pack. McIlroy was behind and continued to struggle after missing the cut at Abu Dhabi and getting eliminated in Match Play.
"It was a bit of a struggle, to be honest," McIlroy said. "Hit some good shots, hit some not-so good shots. As I've been saying, this is a work in progress and I'm working at it and I'm staying patient. ... I just had to play each hole as it come. Just shoot the best score possible."
There is no cut at this event, so he will be around for the weekend, but he would like to be playing better ahead of the Masters in April. He walked off the Honda Classic after dealing with tooth pain and now has shot over 70 more times at the start of this year than he did last season.
"I wasn't putting as much pressure on myself, and that's why I didn't get as frustrated," McIlroy said of his round Thursday. "If I had played like that last week, I would have been not so happy, but I understand it's a work in progress and I'm working at it and it will come together pretty soon."
