If Woods fails to break 70 in the second round this morning, he will put himself in danger of missing the cut in consecutive tournaments for the first time as a pro.
It’s too early, though, to count him out for the weekend on the Warwick Hills course even though the cut is usually 3 or 4 under. He opened the 2005 Buick Open with a 71, bounced back with a course-record-tying 61, and finished tied for second.
“I not only have to play well to make the cut, I got to play well to get myself back in contention,’’ said the two-time Buick Open champion, whose worst finish in eight previous stops at here was a tie for 11th. “Guys are going to continue to go low. That’s the way the golf course is playing right now.
“It’s going to be 20-plus to win.’’
It usually is.
The average winning score has been almost 21 under par since 2000 at Warwick Hills, one of the easiest courses on the PGA Tour.
Lowery took advantage of perfect conditions - smooth, receptive greens and calm winds - in the morning by tying a course record with a 29 on the front nine and finishing 9-under 63.
John Senden also did, making five straight birdies in the morning and finishing with nine to end up only a shot off the lead.
Y.E. Yang, James Nitties, Vaughn Taylor, Brian Vranesh were two strokes back with 65s.
LPGA - Angela Stanford birdied the last hole with a 30-foot putt for a 2-under 70 in Lytham St. Annes, England, and shared the first-round lead in the Women’s British Open with Song-Hee Kim.
Kim holed out from 20 feet for birdie at the last.
Stanford and Kim were a shot ahead of Yuko Mitsuka of Japan and Hee Young Park of South Korea on a day when stiff winds on the back nine at Royal Lytham and St. Annes made scoring difficult.
Michelle Wie coped well to shoot a 1-over 73, while Paula Creamer carded a 74 without a birdie.
Top-ranked Lorena Ochoa shot a 75, LPGA Tour money leader Cristie Kerr had a 76, and defending champion Jiyai Shin scored 77.
Stanford coped well with the conditions with an eagle and two birdies to offset two late bogeys, playing the back nine in even par.
She eagled the seventh with a 242-yard 3-wood to the front of the green and a 66-foot putt.
Champions - Greg Norman looked like his old self in the first round of the US Senior Open in Carmel, Ind.
Norman birdied four straight holes on the front nine, but a bogey on the final hole left him in a four-way tie with Joey Sindelar, Dan Forsman, and amateur Tim Jackson at 6-under 66. Andy Bean and Fulton Allem are both one shot back at 67.
European - Tano Goya shot a 7-under 65 to take a one-stroke lead after the first round of the Moravia Silesia Open in Celadna, Czech Republic.
Ouimet - Bill Drohen of Bradford shot a 2-under 68 for a 6-under 134 total and a three-shot lead over Matt Parziale in the second round of the Francis Ouimet Memorial Tournament at Charles River Country Club.
