Woods eyes driving improvement at Sawgrass

After driving accuracy of just 35 per cent on day one at The Players Championship, Tiger Woods knows he has to improve.

Published : May 11, 2018 14:42 IST

Tiger Woods knows he needs to drive better on day two of The Players Championship if he is to challenge for a third title this weekend.

Woods drove an average of 291.5 yards in his opening round at TPC Sawgrass, but recorded driving accuracy of just 35.71 per cent.

As a result, he struggled to build momentum in Florida, carding a 72 to sit even par, six shots off the six-man leading group – which includes world number one Dustin Johnson.

Woods felt he should have broken into the 60s across his first 18 holes of the week, and is targeting improvements off the tee to achieve that on Friday.

"I [have] got to drive it a little bit better than I did today and obviously hit the ball closer," he told a media conference.

"[I am] starting to putt good again and get on greens that I know, and I just need to get the ball a little bit closer and a little bit faster than I did today.

"I feel like I have my playing feels back. Now it's just a matter of just going out there and staying finetuned, but I still have to pace myself in how much I practice and how much I play.

"I know you've heard me say this a bunch of times, but this is all new [to me].

"So, yeah, I have to watch out, I can't practice as much as I would like, but I played enough early this year and especially more than I thought I would, and so I have got - I was able to get my playing feels back and so to be able to maintain them is a little bit easier now than I thought it would have been this time of year."

Woods' playing partner Phil Mickelson endured a torrid end to his first round as he came home in 79 and struggled with his energy levels, the three-time Masters champion dropping seven shots in the final four holes.

"I knew this [energy] was going to be an issue," he said. 

"I said it [on] Sunday at Wells Fargo, I was worried about energy this week. And I just kind of ran out at the end. I had a lot of fun, I enjoyed being with the guys, I just had a poor finish."

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