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The most heavily followed threesome of the morning, Tiger Woods, Lee Westwood and Ryo Ishikawa, trailing huge crowds behind, produced some of the best and some of the most uncharacteristic golf of the day, with the young Japanese player more than holding his own to outscore Woods by three shots, joining Westwood at two under par.
Westwood’s fast start inevitably dropped down a gear after birdies at the first three holes and he hit the brakes with a bogey at the reachable par-five seventh. Then he settled to a run of four pars before a birdie at the difficult 12th and another with a fine tee shot at the short 15th brought him very much back into the reckoning at four under. But it was not to last. He came off a six-iron from 186 yards at the lengthened 16th and dumped it in the burn, then failed to get up and down and retreated to two under.
Woods typified his wayward day when he came up fractionally short with his tee shot at the short 15th hole and the ball retreated down the slope. A poor pitch and a missed putt were aggravated at the very next hole when he, too, blocked a seven-iron into the burn. After a penalty drop he pitched to five feet and holed out to move to one over par.
The third member of the group, 17-year-old Japanese sensation Ishikawa, matched three birdies with three bogeys on the way to the turn in 35, then broke a run of six pars with a birdie at the short 15th to move two shots ahead of Woods.
At the 17th Woods used his driver for only the third time and, for the third time, missed the fairway. Both he and Westwood could do no better than par, but Ishikawa holed out from 10 feet to join Westwood on two under.
All three hit the final green in regulation and all two-putted, Ishikawa holing out from five feet after charging his approach.
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