Tiger Woods set a woeful tone early Thursday to start his play in the 144th Open Championship.
With a simple wedge into the opening hole, he dumped his approach into the shallow waters of the Swilcan Burn. He made bogey to start his round, then added another on the second hole to begin a long day that saw him struggle mightily to shoot 76.
“I fought hard today,” said Woods who had little going right for him even though the early conditions were perfect for scoring and the leader board was overflowing with birdies. “I made so many mistakes today. Not my ideal.”
Woods would finish his outer nine in 40 shots and that had the ABC-ESPN announcers shaking their collective heads.
“It’s like he’s taken it (his game) into the lab and it’s an experiment gone wrong,” said Paul Azinger, runnerup in the 1987 Open Championship and one of the men who believes Woods will break Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18 major wins.
Former LPGA star Dottie Pepper, who followed Woods all day, summed it up with this: “I wouldn’t say he’s giving up but things are definitely a little gray and moody.”
Two-time U.S. Open champion Curtis Strange was pretty blunt. “I wonder if he even has a foundation?” said Strange, wondering about Woods’ current swing fundamentals. “He (Woods) keeps telling (us) that he’s moving in the right direction but there hasn’t been any show of it.”
Woods hit only 10 greens in conditions that yielded 38 sub-par rounds.
His struggles left him hoping for a new strategy. “Hopefully the conditions will be tough tomorrow (Friday) and I can shoot a good round and move up.”
Woods also admitted he was fighting his emotions. “Discouraging? Yes. I was a little bit angered.”
