Tiger Woods Was Simply And Sadly Dreadful In Dubai

The European Tour television lads put it best as they watched Tiger Woods struggle Thursday in his opening round at the Dubai Desert Classic:

“It’s kind of difficult to watch, isn’t it?”

Their words, not ours but the answer is yes, they were spot on.

It was extraordinarily difficult to watch Tiger Woods play  at the Emirates Golf Club.  On a day that was ripe for scoring with perfect conditions and a birdie-friendly golf course in front of him, Woods did something he’d never before done in Dubai.

He shot over-par in an opening round.

It wasn’t barely over par, it was five-over par.  Five-over as in 77.  Thank goodness for Younes El Hassane, Marc Warren, Soomin Lee and Craig Clinton.  They all shot 78s, saving Tiger from being high score of the day.

Here’s where it gets sad.

After his round, Tiger Woods declared:

“I’m fighting my ass off to try and shoot a score.”

It is very sad to watch him struggle like this.  And it’s tough to see any light at the end of the tunnel at this point.  But Tiger has and will remind us as he likes to do that it’s all about April 6 in Augusta, Ga.  By our limited math ability, that a shade over eight full weeks and a lot can happen in that time frame.

Woods’ day of strife and struggle started at the 10th, he immediately hooked his drive and would start out with a bogey that basically set the tone for the 77 shots that left him 12 shots behind leader Sergio Garcia.

The bad news is that Woods is still missing it left and right off the tee.  His fairway drives came mostly with less than driver — three woods and five woods.

The saddest shot of the day came at the par five 18th, where Woods, over the years, has routinely hit the green in two, turning it into a possible eagle, sure-birdie hole.  Of course he found the rough off the tee, laid up to 100 yards and was staring at a front pin location, water sitting there short of the green.  Playing partners Matt Fitzpatrick and Danny Willett had already wisely hit their wedges a bit long, that’s where you make your mistake.

It was then that Woods hit his short wedge shot and it landed well short of the hole, spun back into the water.

At that instant, it became not “kind of difficult to watch” but advanced to “very difficult to watch.”

It was perhaps one of Tiger’s quietest rounds.  Crowds following him were not Tiger Woods-size crowds.  The applause was sparse, there was never a roar.

Woods did manage to save bogey at 18, he had to hole a 10-footer to do it, it was his best and only putt of the day that went in, seemingly.

A couple of bogeys on the front came back-to-back at five and six.  There would be no birdies, despite the fact that there were holes that begged to be birdied.

Suffice to say it is also sad to watch Woods struggle on par fives.  He used to devour par fives but on this day, he played them two-over.

He says he feels fine although he looks tentative walking, he walks slower and he just didn’t look that fluid through the ball when he swings.

“I wasn’t in pain at all,” Woods assured everyone afterward. “I was just trying to hit shots and wasn’t doing a very good job.”

Woods talked about going low in the second round and if he does, he will have conquered 30-mile-per-hour winds that were predicted to show up.

“I’ll be trying to figure something out,” he concluded.

He’s got time to do that.  Remember, it’s all about April 6.