Tiger Woods, after an almost faultless 67, walks off with Padraig Harrington
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Tiger Woods has already stamped his authority on the last major of the year - thanks chiefly to having
the advantage of an early start time when the greens were not only receptive but smooth from having little traffic on them at that time.
The world No.1 missed only two fairways and appeared to be as balanced and
in control of his swing as he has looked for several months. Having won the
last two weeks when struggling a little with his long game, a bogey free
exhibition is not what the rest of the field wanted to see!
Until the end of play tonight, it won't be clear from the leaderboard how the conditions have balanced out over the whole field.
The greens became a little crusty and uneven for the later starters yesterday and as pros we find with the greens changing, we tend to become negative and less confident in the putting surfaces.
That translates into the difference between being aggressive and positive on our putts and having
having to be a little conservative to avoid leaving nasty three and four footers
for par or worse. It was borne out by many players leaving putts short.
In putting, the basics are absolutely essential to being a consistent. Grip, posture, stance and alignment are all important but the most essential factor is staying still over the putt. As the greens deteriorate during the day, the players become less confident and you can see from the TV coverage their bodies physically moving and changing shape.
