Tiger Woods struggled in the first round of the Buick Open, finishing eight strokes behind Steve Lowery.

Woods had poor putting during the first round and it pressured him to score well after finishing in a share of 95th place after 18 holes.

“Didn't hit my irons very good and probably one of the worst putting days I've ever had,” commented the 33-year-old Woods. “Putted good starting out when I was warming up. Got on the greens and it was just terrible.”

Woods missed the cut for the British Open two weeks ago and he has never missed the cut in two consecutive events in his professional career.

However, after four birdies and three bogeys, “Tiger” now needs to fight just to participate in the next weekend of the tournament.

“Obviously I'm not going to get it back in one day,” Woods said. “Guys are going to continue to go low. It's going to be 20-plus (under par) probably to win. So I've got to get it back over the next three days and hopefully I can

“I not only have to play well to make the cut, I've got to play well to get myself back in contention.”

Woods’ misfortunes were met by Lowery’s lucky streak. The 48-year-old tied a course record with 29 on the front nine on his way to the lead at nine-under par 63.

“I putted obviously really well to shoot nine-under,” said Lowery. “But the last nine holes I made all the putts, seven birdies there on the last nine. Some of them were tap-ins, but some of them were pretty good.”
One of the major highlights of the day was Lowery’s 20-foot putt in the eighth hole. 

“Greens are pretty receptive and they have that texture that they're not going to dry out,” commented Lowery. “The ball hits and stays around the pin, and when you putt it, they're at good speed. You felt like you could putt it and if it didn't go in, it wasn't going to go very far by.

Lowery said that he’s happy about his performance in the first round and knows that he needs focus to maintain his lead.