If he wins this Sunday, Tiger Woods will regain the number one position in world golf, a throne he lost in October 2010 and now held by Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy, who is not competing this week on the PGA Tour. The first day of the Arnold Palmer Invitational, which began yesterday, confirmed the Tiger’s good streak. The Californian, who has already won two tournaments this season (the Farmers Insurance in January and the Cadillac Championship this month), started with three under par, four strokes behind the leader, Englishman Justin Rose. Tiger made four birdies, an eagle and three bogeys on the first day of a tournament that could be historic for him.
Equally as good as for the Tiger was the day for the Spaniard Gonzalo Fernandez-Castaño, also with three under par (three birdies, an eagle on the 16th and two bogeys), while Sergio Garcia recovered at the end (again eagle on the par five 16th) to finish the day on par with 72 strokes.
Tiger could cap off a week full of happiness on Sunday if he lifts the trophy for the eighth time in his career as winner at Bay Hill in Orlando, Florida. In doing so, he would become only the second player to have won the same tournament eight times on the North American Tour. The other is the legendary Arnold Palmer, who won the Greater Greensboro Open eight times, the first in 1936 and the last in 1965.
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