WGC-CA Championship:IN ONE of his more succinct remarks in recent memory, PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem lamented earlier this week that Tiger Woods' dominance of the golfing landscape presented certain problems for a man in his position.
"You never tire of it," he said, taking care not to offend the player that everyone around the PGA tour calls "the real commissioner". "But one negative is that he dominates so much of our attention that sometimes it is difficult to grow the stars of the future. When Woods wins by six or eight shots, it becomes more difficult. You would like to see tournaments . . . where he is pushed, even beaten."
It is earlier yet in the CA Championship, but as yesterday's opening round at the Doral course near Miami got under way, it seemed unlikely Finchem might get his wish. Woods signed for a five-under-par 65 to be just two shots off the leaders Geoff Ogilvy of Australia and Migual Angel Jimenez of Sapin.
Perhaps Woods had viewed the commissioner's words as extra motivation to extend his winning streak to eight events come Sunday afternoon.
The former US Open champion Ogilvy, the great hope of those who like their professional golfers to be thoughtful as well as talented, ran in six birdies over the opening 12 holes on his way to claiming the early lead, while Jimenez later birdied the eighth and ninth, his closing holes, to join him.
Stewart Cink was one shot back, while four others, including Phil Mickelson, were on the same mark as Woods.
Europe, too, was well represented by Martin Kaymer, who finished the day with a four-under par 68, a round that did nothing to dissuade those who consider the young German to be a major championship contender soon.
Graeme McDowell had three birdies but an unfortunate double bogey at the short fourth hole and another bogey at the 16th led to a level par 72.
Justin Rose briefly appeared on the leaderboard after birdieing four of his first 10 holes but fell back to finish the day with a 70 - a disappointment, surely, after his start but still it was no disgrace.
Yet as the best of the rest jockeyed for position, the man they will have to beat, positioned himself just behind the leaders with an ominous comfort. Woods has won six times around the Doral course and it is easy to see why. It is not a scenic course by any stretch but it is a decent test and its demands are a perfect fit for the world's best player.
Meanwhile, at the other end of the leaderboard stood the forlorn figure of Colin Montgomerie, who hit his drive on the 10th hole - his first of the day - knowing that fourth place or better come Sunday afternoon would secure him enough world ranking points to earn a place at the Masters.
"I need to attack more," he said on Wednesday. "I can finish 20th playing safe but that's not going to be good enough for me this week."
The good news for the mercurial Scot was that he started with a par, albeit on a hole offering a decent birdie opportunity. The bad news was that was just about as good as things got. He missed a birdie putt on the next and another on the par-five 12th. So far, so routine. But things took a turn for the worse on the par-three 13th - one of the toughest holes on the course but surely not as tough as Montgomerie made it look in running up a double bogey.
In truth, he was lucky to escape with a five after he pulled his tee-shot 30 yards left of the target towards some bushes. Somehow, his ball came to rest in a clearing, but he then duffed his chip, hit a mediocre third and missed the putt for bogey. Credit where it is due, though, he did raise a wry smile.
But even that was gone by the time he reached the turn four-over-par and dead last in the field.
