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Well, day one of the Mercedes Championship is over. Looks like Vijay hasn't skipped a beat. He's leading the field right now at -7 with Tiger lurking at -5. It looks like Tiger is everyone's popular pick to win this tournament. I didn't get to watch any of it today but I saw Tiger hit some balls in the practice rounds and he looked awesome. I saw him stick a 4 iron on a par 5 from something like 230 yards. For me, that's not that bad of a drive.

I watched it on tv, while I was looking at GR
Tiger was going great!... but he missed so many short putts!
Some of the shots Tiger played were amazing!...especially one of his shots out of a really hard bunker onto the green.

I just saw the Golf Channel recap. They showed a shot of Tiger hitting driver off the deck onto the green of a par 5. Apparently, he hit 3 wood off the tee and then driver off the deck.

Well, it worked. Who am I to question Tiger Woods in the first place?

Puts a new spin on using the driver to get the ball into play. I like these west coast tourny's, as the coverage doesnt start until 7, right when I get out of work.

First day is always awesome to watch. Now let the games begin.
Anybody catch the interview with Hank HAney? Tiger's new swing coach, said they've been working on all aspects of his swing. I just wonder, now that Hank has done an interview on TV, and is getting more publicity, if he too will be too big for Tiger and get sacked?

Yea I thought that kind of odd just because they showed Sergio on that same hole hitting driver 3 wood onto the green. You would think driver from the tee then three wood to green would make more sense considering it looked as if Tiger still had room before the fairway ran out.

I was watching that on tv, his goal with his tee shot was to make sure he had a flat lie for his second sht. He popped up the three wood a little otherwise he probably would have had 3 wood 3 wood

I love these first 2. 7-10:30 tonight on ESPN. Watching these guys in Hawaii...I'm in heaven. Tiger is looking good, but so is VJ(my pick & Sindelar, my pick for last, isn't far from the bottom, either). Seems like everyone is having some trouble with the greens. If that keeps up I think that takes away Tiger's one advantage over VJ. JD is still hanging in there so far. I'd like to see him contend. Should be a great weekend... with this and the NFL playoffs beginning.

Hi guys, I can't wait for tonight. VJ looked good and if Tiger starts making putts he'll do some damage, but don't forget about Sergio , I thought he was very solid yesterday specially in the back nine. I am also curious to see how J. Kaye does tonight. I believed he is paired with Tiger so we'll see a lot of him.

I love these tournaments in Hawaii. You get to watch full coverage during the evening. VJ played super. He was striking the ball well and putting lights out. Tiger played well too and would have been closer to VJ had he putted better. Tiger is hitting the ball very well. The only mishit I saw was the 3wood on 14. Unlike last year were you saw 2 or 3 shots like that ever nine holes. Looking forward to a Tiger and VJ showdown for the weekend.

Did anyone hear that both Tiger and VJ changed drivers. I knew VJ switched to the TM R7 last summer. Has he switched again. They didn't say the driver brand but mentioned it was 460 cc which leads me to believe it was the Cleveland Launcher. They also said Tiger was using a new driver. I though he switched last summer to the larger Nike Ignite driver.

I saw that too and I think it was #18. The yardage was listed at 663 yards! Yikes, at see level, too. This hole is described as:
"Home." The hole around which the rest of the course was formulated, "Home" is an extremely long downhill, downwind par five. The hole is made reachable in two powerful blows by the assisting winds and slope. The large, receptive fairway and green are difficult to judge owing to the vast panoramas and the scale of the background. Here, the scale and drama are uncommon; the challenge is within reason, while the surrounding beauty is unparalleled.

I was watching this live and it was hole #9 He hit it to about 25 feet or so and just barely missed the eagle putt, still a tap in birdie

He did it on 18 then, too. I only saw the last few holes. Don't know what he hit off the tee but he used his driver of the fairway and pushed it right and below the hole in the rough - pitched to the back of the green. How does one hit a 7.5* driver off the fairway? I could not even hit my 10.5* off the fairway. These guys are good.

I'm pretty sure he hit driver from the deck to keep it under the wind. Hitting driver from the tee and 3-wood from the deck would have kept it up in the air longer and he would have actually lost distance that way. He could have also just used the 3-wood for positioning as somebody mentioned before.

Regardless, a low cut with the driver off the deck 265 yards stuck to sixteen feet for eagle was very impressive. Too bad he missed the putt.

Vijay switched to the Cleveland Comp driver, Tiger is still playing the 460cc Ignite.