Tiger Woods at Torrey Pines: Grading Each Aspect Of His Game During Round 1

The PGA Tour Season has begun!

Yeah, I know, it started a couple of weeks ago in Hawaii so technically that isn't true.

For many golf fans who only watch when Tiger Woods is playing, however, it is true.

And seeing as Tiger Woods played his first tournament round of 2011 today, many golf fans are excited and eager to see what the year has in store.

In his first round of the year, Tiger played the Torrey Pines North Course, shooting a three-under par 69. A very good round considering he often doesn't jump to big early leads. 

That being said he was not at the top of his game, not that anyone really expected him to be during his first round. But to find out where he can improve, I will go over each aspect of his game.

Driving

When Tiger drives the ball in the fairway, he is nearly impossible to beat.

Today his driving was not very sharp. Although when he did miss the fairway it was usually by a small margin.

His driving accuracy was only thirty-six percent. Not the greatest driving performance today. This percentage must be taken with a grain of salt as even Tiger admits these are amongst the narrowest fairways on the tour all year.

Grade: B

Irons

His iron play today was decent. Again, he was not at his best.

His ball-striking got a little bit weak towards the end of his front nine but he got it under control by the time he headed to the back. That's not to say he was hitting his irons poorly.

He was still hitting greens mind you, but he was not giving himself very good looks at birdies. 

Grade: C

Chipping

Tiger was fairly successful at finding greens today. Consequently, he did not rely on his uncanny ability to get up and down from nearly any lie. Tiger did have a nifty little chip on the first to save par. Plus, with no bogeys on the card, there is not much to complain about in this category.

Grade: A

Putting

This is the club that will determine how Tiger fares in tournaments all season long. When Tiger is putting well no one can beat him.

He did not putt great today, but he did not give himself many makeable opportunities. Although his putt on the eighth hole (Tiger's seventeenth) to save par gave us a glimpse of the Tiger we are used to—That Tiger makes putts from all over to keep the momentum going.

He averaged 1.78 putts per green today, which put him into contention. Let's see if he can cut down on the putts even more and start pulling away from the field.

Grade: B-

Mental

It cannot be easy being Tiger Woods.

There are a lot of demands on Tiger that can detract from his focus on golf. Today, Tiger held it together. And while he had a couple reactions that made you think he had just hit the worst golf shot in history, he recomposed himself and got on with his round.

Grade: B+

Overall

Tiger played well today.

He was not at his best, but he was far from his worst—And lets be honest, golf tournaments are not won on Thursday. He kept himself well within striking distance. Look for him to start making his move as the week continues.

Final Grade: B