Unleashed Tiger Enjoys Early Feast on Kingston Heath

Get free expert predictions on tonight's big games. You can also subscribe to our RSS feed or follow us on Twitter.

Tiger Woods emerged from a traffic jam of his own making to thrill thousands of fans with a six-under 66 at the A$1.5 million ($1.4 million) Australian Masters on Thursday.

Chasing a maiden Australian title in his first trip Down Under for 11 years, Woods was caught in one of the long traffic jams surrounding Melbourne’s Kingston Heath Golf Club before his 7:30 a.m. tee-off.

Once on the course, the American world number one brushed off the pressure of galleries packed six-deep on every hole and delivered a master class for local fans during his seven-birdie, one-bogey round.

“I think they did great today,” Woods told reporters, referring to the legions of spectators that greeted his birdies with raucous cheers but proved otherwise hushed and reverential.

“I think the people were extremely respectful. They were actually trying to police themselves which is great, because you don’t find that very often.”

Woods, whose appearance is expected to attract a sell-out crowd of 100,000, professed his love for Melbourne’s sandbelt courses before the tournament and renewed his vows with some splendid shot-making at Kingston Heath.

BENIGN CONDITIONS

Capitalizing on benign early morning conditions, the 14-time major champion dispelled any notion he would adopt a conservative approach in early rounds by attacking the greens with gusto.

The strategy paid off with a birdie on his third hole, the par-five 12th, where he recovered from a wayward second shot to heave the ball out of a bunker within eight feet of the hole.

Woods notched another six birdies for good measure, including four in five holes on the more generous front nine, before blotting his copybook with a bogey on the par-four last after pulling his tee-shot into the trees.

“Once I put it out there I didn’t have a very good lie. I was playing for five,” Woods said.

The sluggishness of Kingston Heath’s usually slick greens, prepared with protection in mind from soaring temperatures forecast for the weekend, had wrong-footed Woods on occasion, he later admitted.

“We were surprised that (the greens) were that soft out there,” the 33-year-old said.

“Kind of in the back of your mind you kind of have a certain little mindset that you’re thinking it will spring, but on a couple of holes the ball ripped back eight or nine feet, and it’s usually not the case around here.”

• Tiger Woods Posts 2009 Worst at Memorial
• Tiger Woods Struggles at U.S. Open
• Tiger Woods Misses British Open Cut (Video)
• PGA Championship: Tiger Woods Jumps to Early Lead
• Tiger Out of Therapy