Tiger Woods had it going early, then the prepare utterly fell off the tracks throughout the first spherical of The Open.
He made two straightforward pars to begin. Then, he holed a 36-footer for birdie from off the third inexperienced to get to 1-under for the championship. However a three-putt bogey adopted on the par-5 4th, and an unpleasant double-bogey on the par-3 fifth got here after that.
That two-hole stretch was, sadly, a harbinger of issues to come back.
He signed for an 8-over 79, a day tormented by many missed putts, wayward tee pictures, and poor wedge play. It marked his thirteenth straight over-par spherical in a serious championship—a career-high. He final carded a sub-par spherical at Southern Hills in 2022, capturing a 1-under 69 throughout the second spherical of the PGA Championship earlier than finally withdrawing.
Woods seemed rusty after the primary three holes on Thursday, which is comprehensible, contemplating he has solely performed within the majors this 12 months.
He missed the reduce on the PGA Championship and the U.S. Open however made the weekend at Augusta Nationwide.
Making the reduce at Royal Troon this week will likely be a tall activity, although.
“I didn’t do an entire lot of issues proper at the moment,” Woods stated.
“I made that putt on the third gap, after which I feel I had three 3-putts at the moment? I didn’t hit my irons very shut, and I didn’t give myself an entire lot of seems at the moment. I must shoot one thing within the mid-60s tomorrow to get one thing occurring the weekend.”
Woods had a brutal day with the putter, dropping 2.28 strokes to the sphere. However his strategy play did him no favors both. He hit solely 8-of-18 greens in regulation and made solely two birdies. He misplaced 2.6 strokes to the sphere together with his irons, an eye-opening determine contemplating that Woods is likely one of the best ball-strikers of all time.
However at 48 years outdated and with too many illnesses to rely, father time is catching as much as him. He shut down Colin Montgomerie’s retirement suggestion earlier within the week, believing he can nonetheless win in opposition to the world’s finest. However to try this, he might want to play extra in 2025.
“I feel that, because the 12 months has gone on, I’ve gotten higher,” Woods assessed.
“I simply want I might have performed a bit of extra, however I’ve been saving it for the majors simply in case I do one thing fairly main after which take myself out of it. Hopefully, subsequent 12 months will likely be a bit of bit higher than this 12 months.”
Woods added that he must spend extra time within the health club to get stronger and leaner. He seems to be in higher bodily form than when {the golfing} world final noticed him at Pinehurst No. 2. But his sport has not improved since then.
Possibly Woods will hearth everybody up and shoot within the mid-60s on Friday to make the weekend. However in all probability, he is not going to. Woods seems to be headed house early for the third straight main, which might be a blessing in disguise since he has to go straight to Michigan to look at his son Charlie compete within the U.S. Junior Newbie.
Jack Milko is a golf workers author for SB Nation’s Enjoying By way of. Remember to try @_PlayingThrough for extra golf protection. You’ll be able to comply with him on Twitter @jack_milko as properly.
