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Tiger likely needs to have a top-five finish to advance to Atlanta.
LEMONT, Ill. -- Tiger Woods knows his new golf swing is a work in progress. Patience and hard work are the keys.
That's why Woods wasn't discouraged after Thursday's 2-over-par 73 in the opening round of the BMW Championship at Cog Hill Golf & Country Club, a course he's won on five times during his pro career. For the second straight week, he started poorly, had trouble finding fairways and struggled on the greens. Oh, and he also hit some spectacular recovery shots.
"Well, I just started at the PGA [Championship], and I think I've done a pretty good job implementing it and meanwhile playing in some big events," Woods said of his work with swing coach Sean Foley. "It's not easy, it's hard, a lot of work on the range, a lot of work in the room, just trying to make sure I understand it and understand the fixes. I was able to do that today, but unfortunately, I got caught in between some of my old takeaways, and as a result I hit some bad shots."
Woods hit only five of 14 fairways and 10 of 18 greens in regulation and finished with 29 putts. He's tied for 45th in the 70-player field, with the top 30 players on the FedExCup points list advancing to the final playoff event -- THE TOUR Championship in Atlanta -- in two weeks.
Matt Kuchar was the first-round leader with a 64.
"Well, got to keep plodding along," said Woods. "Right now -- as of right now, I'm only five shots back out of that spot. That's not bad. Guys aren't going low at this place because the greens aren't good enough to go low. Obviously, there's a couple players that have played well today, but overall the guys just aren't tearing the place apart."
The good news is that there is no cut, and Woods has three rounds to battle back. He is trying to become the first player since Nick Price in 1993-94 to successfully defend his title at the BMW Championship.
Last week at the Deutsche Bank Championship, Woods started the tournament with a triple bogey. On Thursday, playing with K.J. Choi, he double-bogeyed the par-4 first hole.
"Well, it's more the getting up-and-down," Woods said. "I didn't want to hit 3-wood there, I wanted to hit 5-wood, and I thought maybe get it down a little bit further, and I was a little uncomfortable with the tee shot and obviously flared a 3-wood. That was a bad commitment on my part. And from there, I compounded the problem by not getting the bunker shot on the green."
Woods eventually missed a four-foot bogey putt.
After a par at No. 2, Woods made a seven-foot par save at the third hole, then parred the fourth and fifth holes. He three-putted the par-3 sixth hole from 38 feet, running his birdie try six feet past the hole, and played catch-up the rest of the way.
Following pars at seven and eight, Woods hit a 345-yard drive -- the longest of the day -- at the par-5 ninth but couldn't capitalize. His 5-wood second shot landed pin-high but bounced over the green against the grandstand, where he chipped to three feet and missed the birdie attempt.
"The wind died down just enough where I had 240 front, and I didn't know if I could clear the bunker," Woods said. "If it would have stayed downwind, I can get a 3-iron to land on the front and roll back there, but I just couldn't. If I miss in the front bunker, that's a tough shot, so Stevie [Williams] and I -- I asked if I had room behind the green, if it was an easier pitch, and he said, 'Yeah, it's not that bad back there; you've got six steps over the flag.' So I hit a really sweet shot and unfortunately, didn't get up and down."
And the putt?
"I just blocked it," he said.
As a result, Woods made the turn in 3-over 38.
Woods settled down on the back nine, making a scrambling birdie at the par-4 10th hole. He drove into the left trees, then hit a low cut shot under fronting trees and over taller trees that wound up nine feet behind the hole. Woods preceded to bury the putt.
"I had an opening to the left edge of the green, and the only hard part was the wind was coming off the right, and that means I had to cut a 9-iron," said Woods. "I didn't know if I could cut it off that lie, but it did. It came out clean, and it cut, and I ended up pin-high, made the putt."
Woods followed with a three-foot birdie putt at the par-5 11th to continue his momentum but lost it at the 228-yard, par-3 12th, where his tee shot found the front-right bunker, leaving a 90-yard shot to the pin. Woods blasted 36 feet short of the hole and two-putted for a bogey.
At the 486-yard, par-4 13th, Woods made another miraculous birdie. He hit a 3-wood into the right rough and was left with an awkward downhill stance just short of a bunker and a bad angle to the green. Somehow, Woods picked the ball cleanly -- nearly falling down into the bunker -- and the ball carried to the fringe and wound up nine feet from the cup. Unfortunately, he missed the birdie putt.
"That was a pretty good one right there," he said. "I had 202 hole and hit an 8-iron up there pin-high, and I was just trying to land the ball on the front part of the green. It was 174, I believe, to the front, slightly flier lie, skipped the ball up in the air and landed on the front and rolled back there."
Woods hit a beautiful 5-iron into the par-3 14th hole and rolled in a 10-foot birdie putt but was unable to birdie the par-5 15th.
After a long two-putt par at 16, he made a nice up-and-down par save from the front bunker at 17, then bogeyed the par-4 18th, where his approach shot landed in the front-right bunker and his explosion shot rolled 20 feet past the hole.
All in all, an adventurous afternoon.
"Today, probably a handful of times I got caught in between two takeaways of my old swing and the new swing, and I hit some bad shots," Woods said. "When I get into funky lies, I still have to make the commitment to the new swing. I play a little more by feel than hands, but I've still got to make a commitment to what I'm doing."
Woods begins second-round play Friday at 10:10 a.m. ET off the 10th tee with Choi.