On Thursday, Tiger Woods took 32 putts with the new putter he brought to St. Andrews—that’s more than he averaged two weeks ago with his old one.

Not that it seemed to bother Woods. Nor did it keep golf’s No. 1 attraction from one of his best rounds of his post-scandal comeback.

With a five-under-par 67, Woods opened his quest for a St. Andrews three-peat one shot off his season best and staying within four of record-setting leader Rory McIlroy.

Woods, who by day’s end found himself tied for eighth, said, “You had to go get it. I felt like I did a pretty good job of that today.”

Woods wasn’t necessarily happy with the performance of his new Nike putter when a couple of early birdie opportunities didn’t fall early in his round. But after a string of three straight birdies from 12-14, he felt better.

He said, “I’m very pleased with it. [The ball] comes off faster, and these greens are just the slowest I’ve seen in a long time.”

(Thanks to Los Angeles Times and Keith Allison)