Tiger Woods at Wyndham Championship 2015: Thursday Leaderboard Score, Reaction
After missing the cut at the PGA Championship last week, Tiger Woods came back with a vengeance Thursday at the Wyndham Championship by firing a six-under 64.
The 14-time major winner was locked in at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, North Carolina, as he was near the top of the leaderboard for much of the day and finished his round in fifth place, two strokes behind leader William McGirt:
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The 2015 season has been a trying one for Woods, but the 39-year-old superstar was able to turn back the clock Thursday. He was all smiles after his performance and was happy to finally "get something out of a round":
As seen in this rundown of his scorecard, Tiger converted seven birdies with just one bogey on the day:
| Par | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 35 |
| Round 1 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 32 |
| Overall | -1 | E | E | -1 | -1 | -2 | -2 | -2 | -3 | -3 |
| Par | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 35 |
| Round 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 32 |
| Overall | -4 | -4 | -4 | -5 | -6 | -6 | -6 | -6 | -6 | -6 |
According to Justin Ray of GolfChannel.com, Woods turned in his best tournament round in more than two years:
Not only was it a great round for Tiger in the context of the year he is currently having, but it was also among the best first-round scores of his entire career:
Per ESPN Stats & Info, Woods also broke a disturbing first-round trend that has often sunk his chances throughout 2015:
An early sign that Woods was about to have a fantastic round was his birdie on No. 10—after starting on the back nine—with a picture-perfect chip out of the rough, as seen in this video courtesy of the PGA Tour's official Twitter account:
While Tiger quickly gave the stroke back by bogeying the par-four 11th, he was able to rebound, as the birdie train began to pick up steam thereafter.
Woods birdied No. 13, No. 15 and No. 18, which allowed him to make the turn at three under. At that point, according to ESPN.com's Jason Sobel, his razor-thin chances of making the FedEx Cup playoffs seemed to be improving:
Tiger continued to drain birdie putts, such as this one on No. 1 after making the turn, which suggested his round was no fluke:
Woods then proceeded to birdie the par-four fourth, after which he channeled his inner Michael Jordan by offering a shrug as if to say he had no explanation for his turnaround in form in comparison to last week:
The future Hall of Famer was excellent on and around the greens all day long, but as evidenced by this footage of his approach on No. 6, his iron play was spectacular as well:
Woods parred each of his final four holes after moving to six under on No. 5, which puts him in ideal position to make a run at the leader Friday and beyond at the Wyndham Championship.
Tiger needs to win the Wyndham Championship or finish second with some help in order to make his way into the playoffs, and while those prospects seemed grim prior to Thursday's round, he has a fighting chance with three rounds remaining.
Of course, stringing together multiple strong rounds has been a major challenge for Woods this year, which is why few are likely to anoint him the winner after just 18 holes.
Golf fans saw many flashes of the Tiger of old throughout the opening round, though, and if he is somehow able to maintain that same level of play for the rest of the tournament, Woods could not only pick up his first win since 2013 but also continue playing meaningful golf in 2015.
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