ESPN.com - Golf Online - Singh, Waldorf set Bay Hill pace

Associated Press
Thursday, March 16

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Tiger Woods is back on tour, along with a strong cast of stars in the Bay Hill Invitational. It's the kind of field that makes Vijay Singh want to take his game up a notch, which is exactly what he did Thursday.


	Tiger Woods is resting just one shot off the pace.

Singh made bogeys from the bunker on the first two holes, but kept his patience on a blustery day at Bay Hill and had a 4-under 68 to share the lead with Duffy Waldorf.

Woods, coming off a two-week break, began his march to The Masters with a routine 69. He was joined by six others, including Honda Classic winner Dudley Hart and one-hit wonder Mike Nicolette, who won Bay Hill in 1983, quit the tour five years later and now helps design clubs for Ping Golf.

"Before the tournament starts, we kind of look around and know who's playing," Singh said of a field that includes six of the top seven players in the World Ranking. "It makes you fight a little bit harder out there."

Once the round began, Singh was concerned only with his own game. And there were plenty of concerns.

It took him four shots to reach the first green and he had to make a 4-footer for bogey. He dumped his tee shot on the par-3 second hole into a front bunker to drop another shot.

Singh admits his biggest problem is losing hope too early in a round. Just last month, he was within striking distance of the lead at Pebble Beach and "gave up a little bit" after a bogey on the par-5 14th.

He then watched Matt Gogel shoot 40 on the back nine and Woods zoom past everyone for his sixth straight tour victory.

"That's the way it's been for the last year," Singh said. "I get frustrated very early and make a mistake, but I'm kind of changing the attitude a little bit and trying not to let mistakes bother me."

Among the 14 players at 70 were Phil Mickelson, who was 5-under over his last seven holes, and Mark O'Meara.

Casey Martin made double bogey on his final hole for a 74, while the kids -- 18-year-old amateur Aaron Baddeley of Australia and 20-year-old Sergio Garcia -- each had 75.

Singh was beaten in the first round of the Match Play Championship by Waldorf, who is quietly developing into a consistent contender. Waldorf was among seven players who won twice on the PGA Tour last year.

"The wins kind of boost your confidence," Waldorf said. "But I think there are times where you have to go out and be confident even if you're not making the putts or playing as well as you think you should. That's the only way you're going to get to the place where you want to be, which is contending and winning tournaments."

That's never been a problem for Woods, who hasn't finished lower than 20th in a stroke-play event since he tied for 56th at Bay Hill last year.

Woods looks refreshed after his short break and showed no signs of rust. Facing trouble on his opening hole, he hit a flop shot from thick rough on No. 10 to within an inch of the cup to save par, and got around with only a few glitches after that.

He birdied all of the par-5s and had eagle putts on three of them.

"I really didn't get myself in a lot of trouble today," Woods said. The lone exception was a 3-wood he sprayed into the trees on 18, forcing him to pitch back to the fairway.

It was only the third time in 13 rounds as a professional that Woods shot in the 60s at Bay Hill, not a bad score in tricky crosswinds that began in the morning and never let up.

"Anything under par is pretty good," Woods said.

With Woods, anything near the lead is not too bad, either.

Divots

John Daly wasn't planning on playing Bay Hill until he tied for 16th last week in the Honda Classic, his best finish in more than a year. "Besides, I always play this course well -- except for one hole," he said. That would be the par-5 sixth, where Daly took an 18 two years ago. He made par there Thursday in a round of 72.

Arnold Palmer considered not playing his tournament at the start of the year, but the Bay Hill organizers talked him into it. "I just hope I can play better than I have in recent years," he said. He shot an 82, his worst score at Bay Hill since an 83 in 1989.

One woman in the gallery had a sign taped to her backpack that read, "We miss you Payne," a tribute to 1987 champion Payne Stewart, who used to live at Bay Hill.

Earlier this year, Olin Browne said he could go head-to-head with Woods provided he played from the red tees. Sure enough, Woods was 55 yards longer off the tee on the par-5 12th hole.