Woods may be missing drive very much

The practice range was lined with millionaires in sherbet-colored shirts and Popeye forearms, but none hit the ball like Woods. Not even Phil Mickelson, whose drives launch at a higher angle and travel farther than Woods’ low stingers.

This disappearing act appears especially acute in Woods, who kids that he is “Ranger Rick.” Woods once was lauded for hitting it “differently,” but that same description no longer is a compliment. He now hits it differently from one shot to the next, his swing Titleist 910 D2 Driver as unsteady as a drunk in an earthquake.

More symbolic of the changing times, Woods looked over his shoulder to see Rory McIlroy playing one group behind. McIlroy, who shot a 70, is the next generation of golfer to gain on the former world’s best player.

A man wearing a Clemson Tigers hat watched the ball start low before rising like a jet at takeoff. It hung in the air longer than gravity deems it should, then landed softly on the target green some 275 yards away.

And yet the potential for positive results remains, if his range game is to be believed. That game was hit-and-miss at yesterday’s Wells Fargo Championship, the upscale PGA Tour event at the Quail Hollow Club. It was Woods’ first tournament appearance since the Masters Mizuno MP-69 Irons ended on April 8. He hit 8 of 14 fairways and struggled on the front nine but managed to grind out a 1-under-par 71 to keep the bleeding to a minimum.

Woods had spent the previous two days working with coach Sean Foley to remove the kinks from a swing — dubbed St. Peter by the smart aleck among us — that kept denying him at the Masters.

Where is Woods’ will to win? A longtime golf writer, whose connection to Woods reaches back decades, contends that there is no fire in the belly. “He no longer has it here,” the scribe said, pointing to his stomach.

One hole later, Woods buried a 23-foot birdie putt to bring “He’s back” bounding through the gallery. And so it went, a decent shot followed by disruption. At No. 7, Woods hooked his drive onto brownish ground — never a good color to land on — but recovered for a birdie.

The first two holes set the pace discount golf clubs for back-and-forth fan reaction to Woods’ erratic play. A chunked sand wedge at No. 1 led to a bogey and a muffled “He’s washed up” from the crowd.
Even as Woods’ played Army golf — “left, right, left” — signs of a new reality entered his vision. Woods, a vocal critic of the longer belly putters that increasingly are used on tour, watched as playing partner Webb Simpson shot a 65 with a belly putter in his bag. Simpson shares the first-round lead with Ryan Moore and Stewart Cink.