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Tiger says he's 'starting to get better' Jan. 27: Tiger Woods wins his first golf tournament of the new year and says he's hitting shots he couldn't before.

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Woods’ caddie, Steve Williams, was looking for a sprinkler that he normally sees on the right side of the sixth fairway. He finally found it covered by clumpy grass in the rough. The fairways might not be much more narrow, although they figure to be firm and fast and harder to hold. Shots that spun back on the green are more likely to spring forward.

The hope by some was that the USGA wasn’t watching when Woods shot 19-under 269 on a course that four months from now will be hosting the “toughest test in golf,” where the winning score the last two years has been 5-over 285.

“What he’s going to do is screw the U.S. Open up for everyone else,” Fred Couples said. “If he had shot 10 or 11 under, the USGA would have said, ’Well, maybe we have it in the right spot.’ Now, they may have to regroup a little.”

The USGA already has decided to convert the sixth hole to a par 4, and while No. 13 will remain a par 5, it features a new tee that was built in the RV parking lot, stretching the hole to 614 yards. With the wrong ocean breeze, it could turn into another nightmare like No. 10 at Bethpage Black, where some players couldn’t reach the fairway.

As for the winning score, Woods couldn’t even hazard a guess.

“I don’t know how they’re going to set it up,” he said. “I know these are about the lines, the fairway widths, but as far as the rough and how they’re going to have it, and the pin locations, and the greens, and how fast and how firm they’re going to have them? If we get wind like this every day, no one is breaking par. But you get calm days, you can see guys shooting under par.”

Odds are, they will be shooting for him.

More than the course — and there’s no doubt Woods has a high comfort level at Torrey Pines — what makes him such a strong favorite when he comes back to Torrey Pines is his game.

In the six official events he has played over the last six months, Woods’ average score is 66.75, and his highest score was a 72 in the first round of the Deutsche Bank Championship. He has won five of his last six events by a combined 28 shots.

As Goydos said, that kind of golf will work anywhere.