Tiger Woods opens Players with frustrating 73
Two holes perfectly summed up Tiger Woods' opening round at The Players Championship.
On the island-green par-3 17th, Woods chipped in for a birdie 2 after his tee shot to the 123-yard hole landed on the front fringe, barely safe from a watery grave.
After rousing the large crowd at TPC Sawgrass' most famous hole, Woods went to the more dangerous par-4 18th and promptly deposited his drive left into the enormous water hazard. He made double-bogey 6, turning Woods' round from a modest under-par effort into a frustrating over-par dud.
“Probably the highest score I could have shot today,” Woods said. “I didn’t get much out of that round. I hit the ball better than I think the score indicates, and I got a couple good breaks and never took advantage of them.”
Perhaps, but Woods got out of the blocks like a man who was destined for a much higher number than 1-over 73. He missed both of the first two fairways, registering an opening bogey and missing a short putt for birdie on the par-5 second.
Woods' tee shot on the long par-3 eighth was downright dreadful. He chunked a 4-iron to the right, landing 180 yards downrange in a water hazard Woods didn't even know was there.
“I’ve never seen that hazard before and I didn’t even know it was where to now," he said smiling.
“It’s one of those things where (swing coach) Chris (Como) and I are working on some things, and when I start feeling a certain way, I revert back to old habits,” he said. “I don’t think my ball actually touched the grooves, put it that way.”
Woods most blamed his poor score, however, not on erratic tee shots, but on putting. In what's become a familiar refrain over the last several years, Woods said he just could not get the feel of the greens.
“Just really struggled hitting the putts hard enough to get them to the hole,” said Woods, who needed 27 putts to get around on Thursday.
“I just, even when I tried to ram them, I still didn’t get the ball to the hole, so I need to make a better adjustment on that.”
The good news for Woods is that he's just six behind the lead. The bad news is the bevy of players between him and the top spot on the leaderboard. While the mission on Friday is to make the cut, which he's never missed at The Players in 16 starts, Woods is aiming for much more.
“I should have shot in the 60s easily today,” Woods said. “Hopefully tomorrow I can get it done.”
Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.
