U.S. Open: Tiger Woods teases followers, then falters in Spherical 1

Tiger Woods acquired off to a roaring begin on Thursday at Pinehurst No. 2, making birdie to start the championship on the par-5 tenth. He briefly held a share of the lead.

Some clutch par putts adopted on the twelfth and thirteenth holes, however then the prepare started to veer off the tracks on the difficult par-4 sixteenth.

4 bogies over the following six holes adopted, and abruptly, Woods went from 1-under to 3-over on the drop of the dime. He finally carded a 4-over 74.

The 15-time main winner blamed it on his poor ball putting and placing afterward.

“I didn’t hit my irons significantly properly. Didn’t putt that nice,” Woods assessed.

“Drove it on the string all day. Sadly, I simply didn’t capitalize on it.”

Woods hit 12 of 14 fairways however solely 9 greens in regulation. He misplaced greater than two strokes on strategy and missed loads of irons to the proper. However he didn’t attempt to play aggressively and assault flag sticks, which is a necessity for achievement at Pinehurst No. 2.

“I used to be considerably conservative in a few of my endpoints,” Woods stated.

Picture by David Cannon/Getty Pictures

“Then once more, I didn’t hit the ball very properly both. It added as much as fairly a little bit of distance away from the flag. It’s not the place I wished to be on a whole lot of the holes. It simply ended up being that far-off as a result of I wasn’t as sharp as I wanted to be.”

As a result of Woods left himself loads of actual property between his ball and the outlet, he three-putted on a number of events—a simple option to drop strokes.

“This golf course is all concerning the greens. The complexes are simply so troublesome and so extreme that, I believe 1-under par is barely in fifth [right now]. There aren’t that many scores which can be low. It’s laborious to get the ball shut,” Woods defined.

“In most golf programs you play, you hit pictures into the place it’s feeding off of slopes into flags, whereas gathering. Right here all the pieces is repelling. It’s simply laborious to get the ball on prime of the cabinets. In the event you miss it brief facet, it’s an auto bogey or increased. Being aggressive to a conservative line is I believe how it’s essential to play this explicit golf course.”

Woods did get cheeky on the dogleg proper par-4 seventh however wound up short-siding himself into the greenside bunker. He then hit his third shot 18 ft previous the outlet, as one other bogey stared him proper within the face. However he drained the comebacker to save lots of par. He made a number of of these momentum-saving putts on Thursday and nonetheless shot 74.

However then, he dropped one other shot on the difficult par-4 eighth, his seventeenth gap of the day.

As for the way he feels after the spherical, Woods stated his mobility is bettering.

“I’m bodily getting higher because the yr has gone on,” Woods stated.

Picture by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Pictures

“I simply haven’t been capable of play as a lot as a result of I simply don’t wish to harm myself, so I gained’t be capable to play within the main championships. It’s decide your poison, proper? Play rather a lot with the potential of not enjoying, or not enjoying, and combat being not as sharp.”

He now has 24 hours to arrange for his second spherical, which is able to start at 1:14 p.m. ET on Friday. However as a substitute of heading to the restoration room, Woods stated he want to go to the placing inexperienced to work on some issues. Maybe his son Charlie can lend a serving to hand.

“I’d prefer to hit a number of putts. My velocity was not fairly there,” Woods stated.

“If I clear that up, if I get a few iron pictures not as free as I did, I’m proper there at even par. It could actually go thus far the opposite means right here, the incorrect means. It’s simply so laborious to get again. This can be a golf course that doesn’t quit a complete lot of birdies. It offers up a whole lot of bogeys and better.”

If he can clear up these errors, Woods will play the weekend. But when he fails to determine the tempo of Pinehurst’s famed ‘Turtleback Greens,’ Woods will miss the minimize, simply as he did in his final U.S. Open look at Winged Foot in 2020.

Jack Milko is a golf workers author for SB Nation’s Enjoying By way of. Make sure you try @_PlayingThrough for extra golf protection. You’ll be able to observe him on Twitter @jack_milko as properly.