By Steve DiMeglio, USA TODAY
Updated 11m ago
By Ron Chenoy, US Presswire
No, he is not about to share it with anyone.
"I don't write anything down," Woods said when asked if he woke up Thursday morning and jotted down his plan.
Whatever it is, it worked in the first round on the Lake Course at Olympic Club.
The three-time U.S. Open champion, trying to win his 15th major and edge closer to Jack Nicklaus' all-time record of 18 majors, opened with a 1-under-par 69 and trailed only unheralded Michael Thompson, who set the pace with a 66.
It was Woods' lowest round in the first round of a U.S. Open since he fired a 67 on the Bethpage Black Course on Long Island, N.Y. in 2002. That year, Woods won his second national championship.
"I'm very pleased," said Woods, who won PGA Tour titles 72 and 73 earlier this season, the latter in The Memorial in his last start before the Open. "I had a game plan going in and I executed all the through and ended up with a score under par, which was nice."
Woods will again play with Phil Mickelson and Bubba Watson Friday. The three tee off at 4:18 p.m. ET. Mickelson, with a 76, and Watson, 78, need low rounds to make the cut.
While Mickelson and Watson were spraying the ball all over the demanding, hillside course near the Pacific Ocean, Woods was a model of consistency – hitting fairways or just missing in the first cut; hitting greens or ending up on the fringe; and putting solidly. He was shaping his shots from right to left and left to right, hitting the ball high and hitting it low on command.
"I felt very pleased with every facet of my game. I stayed very patient out there and, as I said, I was very pleased how I executed my game plan," Woods said.
Part of that plan, Woods admitted, is his knowing he will have to grind and grind and grind around this golf course.
"I know I can hit the ball this way and I know I have been hitting the golf ball this way for some time," Woods said. "And I was able to put it together in a major championship. I'm going to need it the next three days. This golf course is only going to get faster."
And tougher, he added.
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