Woods in need of practice

Golf

Four hours after stumbling to a shaky 74 in the pro-am at the Byron Nelson Classic in Irving, Texas, Tiger Woods spent much of yesterday on the practice green before the first round of the tournament proper.

The rust that accumulated after four weeks away from competition hung heavy on the Masters champion on Wednesday as he missed fairways, missed greens and missed putts in a four-over-par round. "Each round I'll get better and better with my mental state," Woods said.

The Byron Nelson is the beginning of a three tournament run-up to the US Open, and defending champion, Phil Mickelson, Nick Price, Nick Faldo and Mark O'Meara are in the field.