Tiger Woods Must Master His Putting to Win 2012 Memorial Tournament

Tiger Woods entered the clubhouse with a two-under 70 during the first round of the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio Thursday. 

Woods can mostly thank his work on the greens for his low score, which also included working around a double bogey on the par-4 18th hole. If Woods has any intention on winning the Memorial for the fifth time in his career, the putting must continue to be at the level he showed Tuesday.

Woods sunk important par putts early in his round to build momentum in his short game.

On the par-3 12th hole (Woods began his round on the back nine), Woods drove into the bunker but saved to within 10 feet on his second shot. He then sunk a tricky par putt to stay at even par.

One hole later, Woods was again staring at a difficult seven-footer to save par. Instead of falling back a shot, Woods calmly dropped the putt on an uphill lie. 

Those triumphs on the green set up birdies for Woods on 15 and 17, with the latter needing a 13-foot putt to score a three on the 478-yard par-4 at 17. In between, Woods hit a eight-footer at 16 to save par. 

Those putts to close out Woods' first-nine looked considerably more important once he was completed with the par-4 18th. 

Woods' drive went right of the fairway, and he compounded that mistake when his second shot found the deep rough short and left of the green. Woods then needed two chips to find the green and two putts to find the hole for a double-bogey six. 

Who knows where Woods' first round would have ended up had he not been solid early with the putter.

Despite a disastrous let down to finish the first nine, Woods continued to lean on his putter as he rebounded to start the back half. 

Woods rolled a 15-foot birdie putt to within an inch on the first hole, before sinking another somewhat tricky six-footer to save par on No. 2. 

Birdies finally came on two par-5s—the 527-yard fifth and 563-yard seventh—as Woods got back to two-under par. His birdie putt on the seventh was a smooth stroke from nine-feet out. 

Woods finished with pars on the eighth and ninth to finish with a 70. Over the first round, Woods finished with a putting average of just 1.75—a number that is below what Woods has averaged thus far in 2012. 

Woods' putter hasn't always been kind to him this season, and there's an argument to be made that his failures on the green cost him chances at several tournaments in 2012, including the Masters. 

The stats back up that claim. 

Once the second-best putter in "Strokes Gained" during the 2009 season, Woods has fallen down the leaderboards considerably. Currently in 2012, Woods ranks at No. 19. He was 109th in 2010 and 45th in 2011, which shows how his failure to convert putts on the green has gone hand-in-hand during Woods' struggle to win golf tournaments. 

But there were subtle signs Thursday that his putting may be coming back slowly. There have been various times this season when Woods has putted well during a tournament, only to regress in the following weeks, so there must be caution laced into this argument. 

However, Woods can certainly win the 2012 Memorial if he continues to putt as well as he did during the first round. With the early leaders currently at three-under, Woods should be right in the thick of the leaders come Friday. 

A putt here and a putt there could make all the difference between hoisting the Memorial trophy for the fifth time and falling out of the hunt.