May 10, 2002 5 min read

Molder, Durant share lead; Tiger eight strokes back IRVING, Texas (AP) – Tiger Woods watched the flight of his ball and figured something was wrong when fans seated behind the 18th green scrambled for cover.

What a difference from the last time he played on the PGA Tour.

Three weeks ago, a large gallery turned out to watch Woods win the Masters for the third time. On Thursday in the Byron Nelson Classic, the crowd kept getting in the way.

“I hit a lot of poor shots,” said Woods, who hit only six fairways in a round of 1-over 71 that left him eight strokes behind co-leaders Bryce Molder and Joe Durant.

It was the first time since the PGA Championship in August that Woods failed to shoot par or better in the first round of a tournament.

The rust was evident, especially in blustery conditions that magnified his mistakes.

So was his mood.

Asked whether he could take anything positive about his first round in three weeks, Woods replied, “I kept it under 80.”

If Woods had rust, Molder had nothing but confidence.

After a tie for ninth last week in New Orleans, which made him eligible for the strong field in the Nelson Classic, Molder birdied five of six holes down the back nine of the TPC at Las Colinas and finished with a 7-under 63.

He was tied with Durant, who had his 63 on Cottonwood Valley.

Molder doesn’t even have a card on the Buy.com Tour, so every week is important in his big to earn a spot in the big leagues without going to qualifying school. In New Orleans, he was in contention on the back nine until bogeys on the last three holes.

“I felt like I played good enough to win the golf tournament,” Molder said. “I can take that with me this week and know that wasn’t my best last week, so it doesn’t necessarily take my very best golf to have a chance to win.”

Nick Price, who contended at the Nelson last year, Lee Janzen, Frank Lickliter, David Gossett and Esteban Toledo were at 64.

David Duval, who had an MRI exam on his right shoulder on Wednesday and found nothing but tendinitis, turned in a 66 and began to wonder whether his fortunes might finally turn around this week.

Two months ago, Duval described his season as a “train wreck,” with no top 10s this year. Since then, he has missed the cut in the Masters and the shoulder injury from landing on his face while snowboarding hasn’t gone away.

“Turns out that train had toxic chemicals on it,” he said.

No one can say Woods in on any kind of collision course, although it sure looked that way at times in the opening round.

He was at 1 under through 14 holes until a wild tee shot into the trees led to a bogey on No. 15. On the reachable par-5 16th, his approach came up short of the bunker in thick grass, and he had to settle for par. He finished his round by lipping out a 4-foot par putt.

Having not playing in three weeks, Woods said knew a poor round was possible.

“You’ve got to be realistic,” he said. “It could happen. Unfortunately, it did happen. Sometimes, you come out sharp. A couple of years ago, I shot 61 in the first round. But you never know. Today was one of those rounds where I wasn’t as sharp.”

With 77 players under par after the first round, Woods will have to be sharp Friday to keep alive his streak of 86 consecutive PGA Tour events making the cut. He is tied for third on the career list, just 27 tournament away from Byron Nelson’s record.

Phil Mickelson, in contention just about every time he plays, had a 69 and was joined by Sergio Garcia, Vijay Singh and Ernie Els.

Molder is another of the young stars emerging on the PGA Tour, and his credential are among the strongest – a four-time All-American at Georgia Tech, owner of the NCAA record for lowest scoring average.

If that’s not enough, he shot a 60 during a casual round in Arkansas with President Clinton in 1999.

But unlike someone his peers, such as Gossett, Charles Howell III and Matt Kuchar, he is not yet a member of the PGA Tour.

“To see some of the guys come out and do so well, it’s just helped me because I know that I can play with them,” he said. “It tells me that my game is good enough.”

What turned it around for Molder was a bogey on No. 10 at Las Colinas, where he missed the green by some 50 yards, dumped it in the bunker and had to hole a 10-foot putt just to save his bogey.

“Sometimes a bogey can be the best thing for you,” he said. “I made a couple of birdies early on, and I got too comfortable. It woke me up.”