No birdies for only the 11th time in his storied career.
That’s what transpired for Tiger Woods Sunday at the Wells Fargo Championship.
Quail Hollow pitched a shutout at him — 15 pars, three bogeys — 74, a two-over par finish and a head-scratching tie for 55th.
“I didn’t putt well again,” Woods lamented. “I made nothing. It was just a bad week. I hit the ball halfway decent today. Hit some good drives that just ended up just off the fairway, some landed in the fairway, so I wasn’t disappointed with that. Again, just did not putt well and didn’t make a birdie today. I got shut out. … I think I need obviously to do some practicing with my putter, work on it just a little bit. … It was just a bad week, and good news is wipe your hands clean and go on to the next one.”
The next one is The Players, where word leaked out that Woods will be paired with Phil Mickelson and Rickie Fowler the first two days. “I know those greens (at TPC), I know those putts. You have to hit it good there. When you’re hitting it good it can seem easy.”
Woods found out after his round that he would be playing with Mickelson for the first time since the 2014 PGA Championship. The two haven’t played together at The Players since 2001. But Woods wasn’t surprised.
“Oh, yeah, I do enjoy it because we don’t get to do it very often. We are normally paired up on the weekend if we are both playing well, and even that’s a rarity,” Woods said, before referencing the 2008 U.S. Open, when he, Mickelson and Adam Scott were grouped as the Nos. 1, 2 and 3 players in the world.
“That was a blast for us. That was one of the very few times, if not the first time we played together the first two rounds. We don’t get the opportunity to do it very often. We’ve been going at it for the better part of over 20 years, and it’s fun for both of us to be able to do that.”
To his point, Woods and Mickelson have played only 35 total rounds together on Tour through 237 events in which they’ve both been in the field.
“I know they’re trying to do these new featured pairings … especially the first couple days because of the new media coverage we have with these live streams early on, so you get the early-morning guys viewed. So they want to have some star-studded pairings. You know, I think that it will be fun for all of us, especially for Phil and I.”
While Woods struggled all week at Quail Hollow, Mickelson closed with a 69 on Sunday and his seven-under par total earned him a tie for fifth.
