Tiger Woods Came To Play Today...and He Brought His Driver with Him

The last time we saw Tiger Woods was almost a month ago at The Players Championship where he was duck-hooking drives and playing a form of golf he once referred to as "military golf"—left, right, left right, etc.

Having played the Quail Hollow Championship the week before, The Players Championship marked the first time Woods had attended back-to-back tournaments in more than a year.

At both the Quail Hollow and Players Championship, Woods was unable to mount any kind of a Sunday afternoon charge despite being well within striking distance of the leaders. On both occasions it was his extremely erratic driver that let him down.

Woods hit just 44 percent of fairways at Quail Hollow and 53 percent at TPC Sawgrass.

Over the past three weeks there was perhaps no single golf club on the face of the plant spoken about and scrutinized more than Tiger Woods’ driver.

But rest assured golf world, Tiger Woods came to play today at The Memorial Tournament, and he brought with him an exceptionally accurate driver.

Woods hit 13 of 14 fairways en-route to a three-under-par opening round of 69.

After struggling off the tee at Quail Hollow and TPC Sawgrass, Woods decided to change from a 9.5 lofted driver to a 10 degree loft for The Memorial Tournament, which is being played this week at Muirfield Village in Dublin, Ohio.

"I went with a little more loft, 10 Degree. As I've gotten -- as my release has changed over time with Hank, I needed a little more loft to get the ball in the air, little more stem. Still hitting it just as far but probably a different way." Woods said following his round.

Although Woods hit a number of three woods and irons off the tee, he didn’t miss a fairway all day with the driver in his hand.

"The swing is starting to come around," Woods said. "I'm starting to feel good now. It's been a long time. I'm starting to get my power back. Everything is starting to come around now."

Woods’ only miss of the day came at the par-four 18th, where he pushed a three-wood into one of the bunkers lining the right-side of the fairway, which eventually led to a bogey.

"I hit the ball well all day today. Just leaked it over on 18 and cut it back coming out, didn't get up and down. But overall the day was good."

Woods’ driver was not the only club working for him this afternoon.  He also hit 72 percent of greens in regulation, which is, of course, a lot easier to do when you’re hitting from the middle of pristine fairways.

Woods’ accuracy off the tee may have been the story of the day, but there were still eight players who scored better than him in the opening round.

Luke Donald played a near flawless round of golf this morning, which included nine birdies and just one bogey on his card.

Donald recorded six birdies in a row between the 8th and 13th holes, and followed with two more birdies at the 15th and 16th en-route to an eight-under-par round of 64.

“It was just kind of a normal everyday round until I got to the eighth and made a nice putt from the fringe from about 15 feet there. That kind of sparked off a run of six birdies. Just really got on a hot streak. What was I, eight under through 10 holes—no, nine holes. Eight under through nine holes. That doesn't happen very often, but when you get on that roll, it feels pretty good. So just kept going and made some birdies,” Donald said of his opening round.

Jim Furyk, Ted Purdy, Jason Day, and Thomas Aiken are all tied for second place and three strokes behind Donald.

Woods is currently tied for ninth with nine other players all at three-under-par.

Woods may have hit the ball well off of the tee today, but remember, Woods also hit 70 percent of fairways during his opening round at The Players Championship and then never managed to hit more than 50 percent in any other round for the rest of the week.

So, although Woods is off to a hot start, whether or not he can remain accurate off the tee for the next three days will be the big question.

With the US Open scheduled to take place in just two weeks, if Woods does indeed have a handle on his driver, he could once again bring the brutally long Bethpage Black course to it's knees, just as he did back in 2002.