• Frys.com Open, Round One

Erratic Woods struggles on return to action

Tiger Woods had some trouble with bunkers on Thursday © PA Photos

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Tiger Woods made a forgettable start to the Frys.com Open in San Martin, California, as the former world No. 1 stumbled to a two-over round of 73 on the opening day.

Woods opened with a birdie but could not build from there, as a lost ball on the 12th threatened to derail his round. But he steadied the ship and made an important birdie at the 15th to ensure he was not relegated further down the field.

The American had started his round in ominous fashion. After stepping away from his opening drive after being distracted by a camera, the American found the fairway before hitting a soaring long-iron from 230-yards in to around five-feet and holing the resultant putt.

Yet the very next hole highlighted the same frailties that were on show at the US PGA Championship. Woods found the bunker from the tee and was in sand once again after his approach - needing two shots to get out as he dropped back to par at the first opportunity.

He was over par at the very next hole, as he missed the green at the long par-three. His chip ran to about six feet but he missed the putt - seeing it circle the cup before rolling back towards him. From there Woods scrambled more successfully, reeling off five pars in succession despite a couple of errant shots - most notably a mishit drive on the fifth.

Another par rounded out the 35-year-old's front nine, but it could and should have been a birdie. Woods fired in a beautiful approach at the par-five but his putting let him down - with a short and jabby stroke only succeeding in pushing his eight-foot putt over the right lip of the cup.

As the weather - already overcast - changed for the worse as Woods began his back nine, so too did his golf. Woods made an absolute mess of the lengthy par-five 12th, leaking his tee shot into the rough before wildly mis-hitting his lay-up into water. From there it took Woods four shots to get down, resulting in an ugly double-bogey seven.

With six holes remaining there were fears Woods could finish even worse than his current three-over, but he rescued matters somewhat with a birdie and five pars to ensure he can still make the cut on Friday with a more impressive round - particularly on the greens.

To make matters worse for Woods, Patrick Cantlay and Louis Oosthuizen fared better than their more illustrious playing partner - as they moved ahead of Woods on two-under and even-par respectively. Indeed, the performance of Cantlay, an amateur currently studying at UCLA, overshadowed Woods throughout the day, particularly on the sixth hole where he chipped in from 35 feet to card a spectacular birdie.

Paul Casey had his share of luck too, making an unlikely par at the eighth after holing his pitch from the deep rough about 20 yards right of the elevated green. The Englishman ended the round on one-under, three shots adrift of the first-round leaders - after squandering a great start to the round that at one point saw him sit four-under.

Texas Open winner Brendan Steele made his way to the front with a round of 67, sitting four-under alongside compatriots Briny Baird, Garrett Willis and Matt Bettencourt.

Steele was one-over at the turn but found the back nine far more to his liking, carding five birdies - including two in his final two holes - to jump to the top of the leaderboard. Baird didn't drop a shot during his round, coming home in 33 to complete his round strongly.

Willis and Bettencourt, meanwhile, started their respective rounds on the back nine, with both Americans making birdies on the ninth to head into the clubhouse with a share of the lead. The late-finishing Chris Baryla then appeared destined to join the pacesetters before the Canadian picked up a bogey with two holes to play to sit one shot back.

Troy Matteson along with Australians Rod Pampling, Aron Price, Matt Jones and Steven Bowditch also carded a three-under 68 to claim a share of second spot, while last week's winner Kevin Na failed to capitalise on a fast start as he finished two-under - with his rollercoaster round ultimately including a staggering seven birdies, five bogeys and just six pars.

Ernie Els was another player to finish two-under, the South African finding birdies on two of his final four holes to sneak in under par on a day that was not conducive to low scoring. He was joined by Andres Gonzales - the distinctive American who has gained a cult following for his one-sided Twitter conversations with Woods.

On Tuesday Gonzales tweeted at Tiger, "Putting contest on the putting green...NOW!!!", the latest in a series of humourous tweets at the 14-time major champion.

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