Woods frustrates in Pebble Beach return

Tiger Woods, who demolished the opposition by a record 15 strokes at the 2000 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, made a less than triumphant return to the Pacific coast layout on Thursday with a three-over-par 74.

Tiger Woods, who demolished the opposition by a record 15 strokes at the 2000 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, made a less than triumphant return to the Pacific coast layout on Thursday with a three-over-par 74.

HT Image

Woods stood five strokes behind U.S. Open first round co-leaders Paul Casey of Britain, Brendon de Jong of Zimbabwe and American Shaun Micheel and blamed the greens.

“It was so bouncy out there,” Woods told reporters, referring to the hard, fast greens. “The greens are just awful.”

Playing in his first US Open and that after coming through a sectional qualifier, Arjun Atwal had a roller coaster of a round with four birdies and eight bogeys in his eventful 75 that put him on the edge as far as weekend action is concerned.