Woods offers polite reminder to media about resurgence at Bay Hill
Tiger Woods opens with 68 at Arnold Palmer Invitational, four back of Henrik Stenson
Tiger Woods continued where he left off at the Valspar Championship last week with a solid 4-under 68 on day one of the Arnold Palmer Invitational - and then reminded the media exactly how far he has come in recent months.
Woods, coming off a tie for second at Innisbrook Resort, is bidding to win a record ninth title at Bay Hill this week in what would be his first PGA Tour victory since 2013.
Fielding 37 questions after his opening round, nearly every single one of them was a variation of when, not if, he wins again, especially with regards landing a 15th major title at the Masters next month where Woods is now favourite.
And the former world number one is loving every minute of it.
“You guys are asking different questions than you did when I first came back and that wasn't that long ago, that's two months ago,” said Woods, who made six birdies, 11 pars and a double bogey on day one at Bay Hill.
“The narrative has completely flipped from how you guys ask me questions and I just wanted to remind you guys that it wasn't that long ago that you were asking a different set of questions and that you need to enjoy it.”
The American's highlight of the day came at the seventh hole, his 16th of the day, when rolling home a 70-foot putt for birdie...
Woods lies four strokes behind day-one pacesetter Henrik Stenson, who posted a blistering 8-under 64 featuring just 20 putts - tying the Swede's career low on the PGA Tour.
Aaron Wise and Talor Gooch carded a pair of 65s to lie one stroke adrift, while Rickie Fowler, acting as one of the tournament hosts this week, started brightly with a 5-under 67 alongside Jimmy Walker and Bryson DeChambeau.
Rory McIlroy raced out the gates in the afternoon wave, playing the opening 10 holes in 5-under, but somewhat ruined the round when sending his tee shot out of bounds at the 18th en route to a double-bogey six for a 3-under total.
England's Justin Rose played his opening six holes in four-over par but bounced back superbly to post a 3-under 68, a score matched by compatriot Tommy Fleetwood.
