Tiger Woods got his quest for golfing immortality off to a shaky start, Thursday, as he watched his 21-year-old amateur playing partner outshine him early on.
Woods came in as the shortest odds favorite ever for the British Open championship and with his coach Butch Harmon calling him "as close to being the perfect golfer as I have ever seen."
But in what passes for a heatwave in the east of Scotland - blue skies and a gentle breeze wafting in from the North Sea - the 24-year-old World Number One pulled out an iron on the first tee.
In stark contrast to the picture postcard scene on the first tee outside the RA clubhouse, Woods cut a somber figure in gray shirt and trousers and black pullover and cap.
His playing partners were the 1994 Open champion Nick Price of Zimbabwe and the US Amateur champion David Gossett.
Crowds half a dozen deep packed the opening double fairway down its length all straining to catch a glimpse of the player who has become one of the best-known faces in the world of sport.
But he was in no mood to supply them with the fireworks they wanted, hitting the first four greens in regulation but well away from the pins.
Woods even left himself with a couple of tricky seven-footers to stay with par, which he made with no great difficulty.
He finally stretched his muscles on the fifth, the first of the Old Course's two par-fives with a drive, which split the fairway and bounded 30 yards past the balls of Price and Gossett.
But to a gasp from the crowd, Woods pushed his second badly into heavy rough to the right of the green after both partners had safely hit on from behind him.
Woods had little choice but to hack firmly at his ball to extract it and although he got good height the ball ran 50 feet past.
Again his hot putter allowed home to walk off with a par but for Woods it must have felt like a shot dropped.
To make matters worse Gossett, who had hit a magnificent second to the heart of the green sunk his putt for an eagle, and suddenly the Arizona youngster was two shots clear of the world's greatest golfer.
Woods continued to play a patient game on the 6th, 7th and 8th, but by that stage, he was already six strokes behind the early tournament leader, his old college mate Notah Begay.
He finally grabbed a birdie on the par-four ninth with a pinpoint second shot followed by a seven-foot putt. A wave to the crowd and a quick smile were the first emotions he had shown. That left him out in a one-under par 35 – (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)