Tiger Woods struggles in his worst Masters round ever
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Thursday morning, Tiger Woods defied belief. Saturday afternoon, reality caught up with him.
Roughly 50 hours after he strode to the first tee at Augusta National riding a wave of cheers from a mass of patrons thousands strong, Woods played like what he is: a man still recovering from a catastrophic car wreck, a man with enough metal in his body to set off TSA sensors, a man who’s held together with duct tape and willpower.
Woods shot 78 on the day, his worst performance ever at the Masters, and the round didn’t even look that pretty. He struggled to place his approach shots anywhere near the flag, and he struggled to get any putt to drop. He used clubs as impromptu canes, and when he left the scoring room to fulfill his media obligations, he visibly limped so badly that even stepping up onto the one-step podium came with risk.
"It's been hard," Woods said after his round. "The conditions were tough today. ... It's just been blustery all day. You add in the temperature difference, it was cold starting out. The ball wasn't going very far."
After fighting his way through yet another up-and-down round — three birdies, three bogeys, one double-bogey — through the first 15 holes, Woods fell apart within sight of the clubhouse. He bogeyed 16 and 17 and doubled 18, walking off the final green like he was losing parts. He three-putted four holes and four-putted a fifth, unable to get any sense of a read on how the greens were rolling Saturday.
“I just could not get a feel for getting comfortable with the ball. Posture, feel, my right hand, my release, I just couldn't find it,” Woods said. “Even as many putts as I had, you'd think I'd have figured it out somewhere along the line, but it just didn't happen.”
In a grand context, Woods didn’t play terribly. His 78 was the equal of two-time Masters winner Bubba Watson, one stroke better than reigning FedEx Cup champion Patrick Cantlay, two strokes better than Masters champion Adam Scott, just one shot worse than reigning U.S. Open champion Jon Rahm.
There’s nothing left for Woods to play for but pride at this point; he walked off the course 18 strokes behind leader Scottie Scheffler. He has nothing whatsoever to prove to anyone but himself; this week has already been a success far beyond what anyone could have realistically expected. Woods’ career as an elite-level professional isn’t over, although it’s moving a lot more slowly these days.
“I fight each and every day,” Woods said. “Each and every day is a challenge. … I wake up and start the fight all over again.”
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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Follow him on Twitter at @jaybusbee or contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com.
