Adam Scott comes out firing after a lengthy weather delay to take a four-shot lead over Tiger Woods in their game-within-the-game at Doral.
Tiger Woods played only 10 holes Thursday at Doral, though the injury-plagued world No. 1 was one of 62 of the 68 golfers in the star-studded field at the WGC-Cadillac Championship to walk off the course short of a regulation 18 holes in the first round.
Harris English, the clubhouse leader at 3-under, was one of six players to complete a full round after strong thunderstorms delayed play on Donald Trump’s restructured Blue Monster for some two-and-a-half hours. The rest of the players, with Woods, Adam Scott, and Henrik Stenson on the 10th hole when darkness halted play for the day, were slated to return Friday at 8:45 a.m. ET to finish the opening round before starting the second.
When the horn blew Thursday evening, Woods was five back of English and four behind Scott, who, in the two-player game-within-the-game, had the early upper hand and would take over the top ranking with a win and a Tiger finish outside the top five.
In the #WGC battle of Tiger vs Adam, the Aussie is four shots up on the World No. 1 #AdvantageAdampic.twitter.com/C6QMFdiPcU
— PGA of Australia (@PGAofAustralia) March 6, 2014The good news for Woods, who withdrew with back spasms after 13 holes on Sunday at the Honda Classic and left Doral at 2-over, was that he appeared to play without pain on Thursday.
"Felt a lot better today," he told reporters after his shaggy round. "Warmup was good and I felt good all day."
The not-so-positive headline was that the defending champion, who received treatment all week and could not play a practice round on the unfamiliar venue, continued the rusty play that has resulted in a missed cut, a T41, and the WD in his three previous worldwide events in 2014.
Tempo was an issue all day for Woods, who ended on No. 10 with his second bogey to go with eight pars after a rightward-leaning tee shot found a fairway bunker, his approach shot came up some 50 feet short of the hole, and he missed a a six-footer for par. With a couple of three putts --- on the par-5 eighth that he reached in two and three-jacked from 35 feet, and the 10th -- Woods needed 20 putts in 10 holes.
The performance was a far cry from that orchestrated by the flat-stick maestro who made his way to the 2013 Cadillac title with just 100 putts in four rounds.
While Woods returned from the intermission cold, Scott came out firing. The reigning Masters champ, at even-par on the sixth hole and one-up on Woods when play halted, rolled in back-to-back birdie putts on eight and nine to take a four-shot advantage over Tiger into the barn.
Woods will try to get his game together and hope his back can hold up for 26 holes on Friday, when he’ll pick up his first round at 8:45 a.m. and start the second at 11:44.
"Should be a long day for all of us," Woods said. "Hopefully, tomorrow I can get back out there in the morning, play well, and work back to even-par by the end of the first round, then shoot a low one in the afternoon."