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GULLANE -- By the time Tiger Woods finally made his way up to the 18th green, the bleachers were half empty and long shadows crept across the fairway. If Woods needed to be reminded how long this day was, the clock on the giant yellow scoreboard read 7:37 p.m. -- more than five hours after he teed off. The major championships are usually grinds, but for anyone playing in the afternoon Thursday the first round of the British Open proved more of a test than ever. The wind was blowing harder than expected, the golf course was drying up by the minute, and anything around par was a score to be respected. And there was Woods, feeling awfully good about a 2-under 69 that had to give him hope his five-year drought in the major championships might come to an end this week on a golf course playing like it is in the middle of a drought. "It was tough," Woods said. "The golf course progressively got more dried out and more difficult as we played. Im very pleased to shoot anything even par or better." A day that began with a near catastrophe off the first tee ended with a six-footer that found the centre of the cup on the 18th green. Hardly surprising since Woods had 10 one-putts as he scrambled his way around the links course for one of the better scores of the afternoon. He was three shots off the lead set by Zach Johnson, who was part of a morning surge of players who took advantage of easier conditions to set the pace. More importantly, perhaps, Woods has a morning tee time of his own Friday on a course that at least for the first day was set up to favour the early players. "The guys that played early had a huge, huge break," Phil Mickelson said after shooting a 69 himself in the morning. "Because even without any wind, its beyond difficult." That Woods managed to break 70 in the afternoon was impressive enough. That he did it after nearly snap hooking a 3-wood out of bounds on his opening tee shot and having to take an unplayable when the ball nestled in a deep clump of unruly grass was doubly so. "When I got over that tee shot I was (thinking), if I hammer it, this 3-wood is in that bunker," Woods said. "So maybe I should take something off it. Maybe I should hit 5-wood. Hence I hit a flip hook left and there she goes." Woods somehow managed to make a bogey five on the first hole even with a penalty shot by hitting his third into a greenside bunker and getting up-and-down. It set the pattern for a day of one-putts that not only prevented the round from getting away from him, but put him in prime position going into the second round. "Were supposed to get a different wind tomorrow," Woods said. "It will be interesting to see what the course setup is." Just how tough was Muirfield in the afternoon? So tough that the threesome Woods was playing in became a twosome when former champion Louis Oosthuizen withdrew on the ninth hole with an apparent injury after going 4-over-par through eight holes. So tough that his other playing partner, Graeme McDowell made two double bogeys and shot a 75 despite feeling he played well. So tough that Woods was 1-over at the turn before one-putting the next four holes to spark a 3-under 32 on the back nine. "Tiger played phenomenally well for his 2-under par," McDowell said. "Really ground it out well, did what he did best." Playing well early in majors hasnt been the issue for Woods in recent times, though. Closing it out on the weekend has been, the main reason why hes still stuck at 14 major championships and hasnt won one since beating Rocco Mediate on one leg in the 2008 U.S. Open. Last year he opened the British with a pair of 67s only to fade to a tie for third place behind Ernie Els. This year he was in the mix at the U.S. Open before shooting 76-74 on the weekend. He came here well rested and healed up from a strained elbow that was acting up at the U.S. Open, his last competitive event. He also came with the knowledge gained from years of playing links style golf on this side of the pond, including his two wins at St. Andrews and his other win at Hoylake near Liverpool. "Theyre so different, so different," Woods said. "I mean, this is almost -- its about as fast as Hoylake was. But theres knee-high rough here. And plus this golf course changes directions a lot. This is a totally different setup." Not so different, though, that Woods doesnt like his chances of winning a fourth claret jug.Jordan 1 Outlet . It was just business as usual for the Thunder at home. Durant scored 32 points and the Thunder beat the Bulls 107-95 on Thursday night for their eighth straight win. Fake Jordan 1 Black . 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Retro Air Jordan 1 Banned Black Mens .com) - The women will also have a new champion at the Australian Open.Throughout the Tour de France, Australian professional cyclist Richie Porte will be checking in. Here is his latest entry, as told to ESPN contributor Rupert Guinness:Stage 5: Limoges to Le Lioran, 216kmWhen one of your teammates wins a stage, as Greg Van Avermaet did on Wednesday in the fifth stage of the Tour de France -- also taking the yellow leaders jersey -- one of the great moments comes when the whole team is sitting together in the bus after, heading to the hotel.Wins really boost a team. You are really happy for the guy who has won, of course, but the positive vibe goes through everyone. And in the Tour that can really make a difference.Trouble is, after Gregs win in the stage from Limoges to Le Lioran, we didnt get that ride.We instead jumped in to the cars because it was supposedly going to be quicker. But we couldnt get through. The gendarmes wouldnt let us through at first, but then they did and gave us an escort. Still, we got stuck in traffic, taking 25 minutes to do three kilometres.Anyway, the point is: we missed the moment where one teammates win is everyones. Although after Greg finally got to the team hotel to eat dinner, after his obligations as the stage winner and new Tour leader, we did get together to toast the moment so to speak.It was quite a win. He really deserved it.He is one of the best classic riders; he also won a stage in the Tour last year. But he is also a classic guy. One of the first things he did before we all got together to celebrate his win was to send a message to the group by WhatsApp saying: Thanks a lot. Its a dream come true. To be honnest, though, he cant really be thanking us as we didnt do much for him.dddddddddddd He did it himself. On a hilly course, he made the break and smashed it, despite the group including some solid climbers like Polands Rafal Majka (Tinkoff).Ive already said that his win will boost team morale -- not that it had dipped as some might think after I lost vital time in the second stage - and I felt that while we were still finishing the fifth stage into the Massif Central and he neared the finish.As for the group with general classification favourites on Wednesday, it was hard to read much into the outcome. I know Alberto Contador (Tinkoff) lost more time, but you cant underestimate the impact of his crashes and how he might recover in the next day or so.You also have to take into account that Wednesday was the first hot day of this years Tour.Riders respond differently to heat, especially the first hot day after cooler or wet weather.What I have noticed is how some guys are starting to stress out and causing others to worry; especially nearing the top of a climb as they try to position themselves for the descent.It will be interesting to see how that unfolds in the big mountains such as the Pyrénées that we enter on Friday and take on big time on the weekend with stages eight and nine.Sundays 184.5km ninth stage from Vielha Val dAran in Spain to Andorra Arcalis is one of the hardest days of this Tour. I think we are going to see who has got it and who doesnt. ' ' '