Golf Gear Newswire : Frustrated Tiger no fan of Pebble's 'afternoon greens'

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif.—The last time Tiger Woods played a U.S. Open round at Pebble Beach, he was putting the finishing touches on the most dominating four-day performance in tournament history.

On Thursday, in returning to the site of arguably his greatest triumph, Woods was not able to produce a single birdie.

It's the first time since the first round of THE PLAYERS Championship in 2007 that Woods hasn't carded at least one birdie in a round at a PGA TOUR event. And it's just the third time at a major championship that he's gone an entire round without at least one birdie or better.

But despite the difference between Thursday's 3-over 74 and the 67 he shot in the final round of the 2000 U.S. Open to close out his record-breaking 15-shot win, Woods obviously was in no mood for comparisons.

About the only comparison he did make to 2000 concerned Pebble Beach's greens. "It's playing very tricky out there," he said, "much firmer than 2000."

Tricky, though, was not the only adjective he used to describe the greens. Frustrated at his inability to receive reward for shots that he thought were well-struck, Woods had nothing good to say about the greens.

"It was so bouncy out there," he said. "…The greens are just awful. It is what it is. It's poa in the afternoon and they're fast."

He added later: "I've played in the morning on the practice rounds and they were great. This afternoon, they were not."

Neither Mike Davis, the USGA's senior director of rules and competition, nor Tom O'Toole, the chairman of the championship committee, were upset about Woods' comments. Both said they were extremely happy with the conditions of the course on Thursday.

"I really took it that he hit some putts, maybe they bounced, and he obviously was not pleased with that," Davis said. "I kind of just took it for what it's worth. It certainly wasn't a personal assault against me or the setup, and I hope the Pebble Beach Company doesn't take it that way. I just kind of read it that, hey, it got tough out there at the end, they were fast greens and they got a little bumpy at the end."

Woods had three-putts on two greens—the par-4 ninth and 16th—and then found the bunker with his second shot when he laid up at the par-5 18th. "Those are mistakes you can't afford to make," he said.

But outside of those three miscues, Woods was satisfied with the way he played.

He just wasn't satisfied with the score.

"I felt like I played very consistent, very patient, and I hit a lot of shots how I wanted to hit them," said Woods, who hit his first 11 greens in regulation.

Yet as troubled as he was with the greens, Woods is not in bad shape. He finds himself just five shots off the lead, and he'll have the benefit of playing the second round in the kind of morning conditions that should resolve some of the issues he has with the greens.

"Just be patient," Woods said when asked about his mindset going into the rest of the week. "There's a long way to go. Just keep plugging along and see where I am Sunday afternoon."

--By Mike McAllister, PGATOUR.COM Managing Editor

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Frustrated Tiger no fan of Pebble's 'afternoon greens'

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