Just 18 holes - but signs of improvement from Tiger

They're just 18 holes into The Emerates Australian Open, but I was fairly impressed with Tiger's play on Thursday....that's Australia's Thursday, of course.

He ddin't overreach or play unneccesary shots with the driver.  He controlled his trajectory well in the wind.  His distance control was solid with just a couple of noteable misses - especially the tee shot at #9.  He didn't try to fight the wind to pull off a hero shot.

On and around the greens, he chipped well and his putting showed definite improvement.  In his last few starts, we saw Woods miss the hole by several inches on some relatively short putts.  In the first round, his misses were lip outs instead of complete misses. 

Since I noted the tee shot at the par 3 9th that flew the green - the recovery was spectacular to keep his roll of bogey free holes going.  And how about that lag putt on #10 with all those twists and turns and hills ? 

A few times you could tell he was disappointed with his play when he slumped his shoulders or gave some other negative body language.  He hasn't made a bogey, and that's bound to happen on a course where the weather is going to affect his score somewhere along the way.

All in all, I'm pretty impressed with Tiger's progress since his last start at the Frys.  I'm sure Chip would have a more professional and technical breakdown of Woods' play, but I am encouraged to this point....and I'm sure Captain Fred is as well.