Tiger Woods heads into the Memorial Tournament with some momentum after winning four times on tour this season, including at the Players Championship, and after one round of play on Thursday the number one golfer was six strokes behind Charl Schwartzel at one under.
Woods is the defending champion at the tournament and after dealing with some drama involving Sergio Garcia he put it behind him to shoot under par on the first day. The 37-year-old was one under 71 on the day for the first round and he is coming in on a hot streak after shooting under par in every round over his last 17 except for one. He has been accurate off the tee and he hit seven on the back nine on Thursday. Woods sat tied at 27th on the leaderboard and he had some company on the course as Fred Couples played for the second time on the PGA Tour and shot a 70 on the day.
Couples had a solid day after finishing in 13th at Augusta National and Woods had another good day on the tour while looking for his fifth win of the year. This tournament will be the last one he plays before the U.S. Open and that will be his next chance at a major. Woods has been on fire on tour this year and the major will be his next chance, but he will have to fight to catch up Schwartzel, who is one up over Scott Piercy, and Woods knows what to do, as he is the defending champion at the tournament.
Rory McIlroy had a rough day on the tournament and his year has not been a good one, as he shot a 6 over 78 for the worst opening round of his career. McIlroy was number one until Woods caught him and this year has been a total struggle since missing the cut in Abu Dhabi and now he is behind Woods in the rankings for quite some time.
Woods has used the Garcia drama and put it behind him and it has only made him play better, as he made it to the final day in the lead after the controversy and it didn't seem to matter to him on the course. Woods has an intensity on the course that looks like he is ready to win another major.