SAN DIEGO – Tiger Woods was pleased with his play and his score, a 3-under 69 on the North Course, Thursday at the Farmers Insurance Open, but if his body language was any indication he was particularly happy with the way he drove the ball.
Although statistically his game off the tee wasn’t perfect, he hit 8 of 14 fairways, it was how he was able to shape and control his golf ball that gave him optimism following some high-profile equipment changes.
Woods switched to the new TaylorMade SIM driver this week as well as a new Tour B XS golf ball from Bridgestone.
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“I felt like the start lines were a little bit tighter, which was nice. Felt like I shaped the ball well off the tees. I didn’t quite get as many fairways as I needed to today, but overall all my misses were in good spots,” Woods said.
Woods had also been experimenting with TaylorMade’s new SIM Max fairway woods but he didn’t make that switch on Day 1.
Woods said the new driver and golf ball combination have added speed to his swing, but he was more focused on being able to keep the ball in play at Torrey Pines.
“I kind of just chipped it around a little bit today and I didn’t quite let it go,” he said. “I felt like I just had to miss the ball in the correct spots, which I was able to do all day today.”