Tiger Woods made a mess of his opening round at Royal Troon, as he looks well on his way to missing another cut at a major.
Tiger Woods had it going early, then the train completely fell off the tracks during the first round of The Open.
He made two easy pars to start. Then, he holed a 36-footer for birdie from off the third green to get to 1-under for the championship. But a three-putt bogey followed at the par-5 4th, and an ugly double-bogey at the par-3 5th came after that.
That two-hole stretch was, unfortunately, a harbinger of things to come.
He signed for an 8-over 79, a day plagued by many missed putts, wayward tee shots, and poor wedge play. It marked his 13th straight over-par round in a major championship—a career-high. He last carded a sub-par round at Southern Hills in 2022, shooting a 1-under 69 during the second round of the PGA Championship before ultimately withdrawing.
Woods looked rusty after the first three holes on Thursday, which is understandable, considering he has only played in the majors this year.
He missed the cut at the PGA Championship and the U.S. Open but made the weekend at Augusta National.
Making the cut at Royal Troon this week will be a tall task, though.
“I didn’t do a whole lot of things right today,” Woods said.
“I made that putt on the 3rd hole, and then I think I had three 3-putts today? I didn’t hit my irons very close, and I didn’t give myself a whole lot of looks today. I need to shoot something in the mid-60s tomorrow to get something going on the weekend.”
Woods had a brutal day with the putter, losing 2.28 strokes to the field. But his approach play did him no favors either. He hit only 8-of-18 greens in regulation and made only two birdies. He lost 2.6 strokes to the field with his irons, an eye-opening figure considering that Woods is one of the greatest ball-strikers of all time.
But at 48 years old and with too many ailments to count, father time is catching up to him. He shut down Colin Montgomerie’s retirement suggestion earlier in the week, believing he can still win against the world’s best. But to do that, he will need to play more in 2025.
“I think that, as the year has gone on, I have gotten better,” Woods assessed.
“I just wish I could have played a little more, but I’ve been saving it for the majors just in case I do something pretty major and then take myself out of it. Hopefully, next year will be a little bit better than this year.”
Woods added that he needs to spend more time in the gym to get stronger and leaner. He appears to be in better physical shape than when the golfing world last saw him at Pinehurst No. 2. Yet his game has not improved since then.
Maybe Woods will fire everyone up and shoot in the mid-60s on Friday to make the weekend. But in all likelihood, he will not. Woods looks to be headed home early for the third straight major, which could be a blessing in disguise since he has to go straight to Michigan to watch his son Charlie compete in the U.S. Junior Amateur.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.
