Tiger Tracker was in heaven:
Rory McIlroy was threatening to upstage Woods by going through the first 15 holes. But still, to see an icon in this form with three weeks to go before the biennial Ryder Cup dust-up, of course, only quickened the pulse.
Matt Wallace was one of the unlucky ones to miss out on a Cup wildcard when Thomas Bjorn made his choice on Wednesday having won his third title tile of the year at the Made In Denmark event on Sunday. He shot an opening 68 in the Omega European Masters in Switzerland, four off the pace set by Maxiilian Kiefer.
"Obviously I'm disappointed because that was my goal, and my dream, and I thought I showed enough," Wallace said. "But I fully back Team Europe now to give the Americans a good go. … I've had a lot of disappointment in my life and my career playing golf and I've always used it as fire to get better. And this is probably one of the biggest ones you can have so I just say, 'Watch this space' now."
It has been suggested that Wallace could still be invited to the event in Paris as an observer by Bjorn but no decision has yet been taken. Bjorn also overlooked the credentials of Thomas Pieters and Matthew Fitzpatrick - both of whom played at Hazeltine two years ago - as he opted for the experienced quartet of Paul Casey, Sergio Garcia, Henrik Stenson and Ian Poulter.
Wallace, Pieters and Fitzpatrick were all in action together in the same group for the opening round of the European Masters. "We were the rejects," joked Pieters.
Kieffer recorded seven birdies against a single dropped shot on the 12th to sign for a six-under 64 in the Swiss mountain resort.
The 28-year-old is searching for a maiden European Tour title in his 162nd event, and holds a one-shot advantage over England's Andy Sullivan, Dane Soren Kjeldsen, France's Julien Guerrier and Japan's Hideto Tanihara.
