Tiger Woods is near the bottom of the Open Championship leaderboard after opening with an 8-over 79 on Thursday at Royal Troon Golf Club in Troon, South Ayrshire, Scotland.
One quick birdie at No. 3 gave Woods’ fans hope before he played the next nine holes in 8 over par. Woods wrapped up just before 8 p.m. local time and enters Friday 14 shots behind leader Daniel Brown of England.
A 15-time major champion, Woods will tee off in the Friday morning wave striving to make the cut rather than to get into contention for a victory.
“I need to shoot something in the mid-60s (Friday) to get something going on the weekend,” Woods said.
Woods’ highlight came early in his round, when he drained a roughly 36-foot putt from off the green over a hard right-to-left slope, delighting the throng behind him.
An early birdie for Tiger at The 152nd Open. pic.twitter.com/LCnB5BsrEA
— The Open (@TheOpen) July 18, 2024
But after a bogey at No. 4, Woods landed in a pot bunker at the par-3 fifth and had to face away from the green to escape it, leading to a double bogey. He three-putted for bogey at No. 7 and went out in 4-over 40.
At the par-4 11th, Woods’ drive sailed far right near the train tracks, and he had to take an unplayable lie. The ensuing double bogey pushed him to 6 over, and he would bogey the next hole before stroking a 7-foot birdie putt at the 13th to get a shot back.
Woods missed the greens at the par-3 17th and par-4 18th, as he finished with a bogey at both. He finished the day 4-over on Troon’s four par-3 holes.
It’s expected that this is Woods’ final start of the 2024 season, as the 48-year-old has played a limited schedule consisting of majors, the Genesis Invitational (his foundation’s tournament) and some exhibitions since recovering from a serious single-car accident in 2021.
“I’m physically feeling a lot better than I did at the beginning of the year,” Woods said. “At the end of last year, it was tough, and I haven’t played a whole lot.”
The three-time Open champion said he had been “saving it for the majors just in case I do something pretty major,” and admitted that playing more regular events going forward could help him get back in tournament shape.
“I thought I could play a little bit more earlier in the year,” Woods said. “I think I was a little bit too optimistic. I need to do a lot more work in the gym and keep progressing like we have.”
–Field Level Media
