THE OPEN: Woe is Tiger

BY BRENDAN JAMES AT ST. ANDREWS

Tiger Woods bounced into St Andrews last weekend, looking relaxed and confident enough to tell anyone who would listen he was confident of a good showing in The Open Championship.

“I'm playing better. I'm hitting the ball much, much more solid. I'm controlling my flights,” he said. He went on to have a poke at those sitting in front of him in the media conference for thinking he is “buried and done”.

Tiger Woods takes a penalty drop on the 1st hole after hitting into the Swilcan Burn at the start of his round. PHOTO: Andrew Redington/Getty Images.

“I'm still right here in front of you. Yeah, I love playing. I love competing, and I love playing these events,” he added.

He’ll be doing none of the above this weekend.

He will need to shoot a near record second round to even entertaining making the cut after opening with a four over 76 – his worst round as a professional in the Open at St. Andrews.

His campaign to become the first player to win three Open Championships at St. Andrews was as good as over before it started, based on how he played the 1^st hole.

Taking an iron from the tee on the 375-yard par-4, he duffed the shot, taking a massive divot out of the ground in front of the R&A clubhouse. He was almost 40 yards behind playing partners – Jason Day and Louis Oosthuizen – off the tee and was forced to play a longer second shot, which he also hit fat. I was enough of a mis-hit for the ball to finish in the Swilcan Burn fronting the 1^st green. He took a drop and played a nice chip but his bogey would have smashed his confidence from the outset, given the 1^st hole had given up birdies to 19 players of the 54 players playing in front of him.

Woods plays an orthodox second shot on the par-5 5th hole.
PHOTO: Matthew Lewis/Getty Images.

With bogies at four of the first seven holes, he reached the turn in 40 and was in 82^nd place, with just golfers behind him. He was already ten shots behind the leading player and had hacked up the easier of the two nines.

Another bogey was added to his card on the par-4 10^th hole. While most of the field at that stage was finding its way into red figures, Woods was sinking into the Open abyss like his Nikes were full of pebbles.

Dottie Pepper, who was following Woods as the on-course TV commentator for ESPN, even hinted at one stage Woods had given up.

“Tiger’s definitely starting to show the frustration," she said. "The second shot at the 7th (where Woods carded his fourth bogey) was the first real wrinkle and this one was big. I wouldn’t tell you he’s given up but things are pretty gray and a little moody out here."

To his credit, he scratched and fought hard heading back into the wind on the remaining homeward holes. But there were shots played among the pars that made it easy to believe Tiger is far from finding the answers to his swing problems.

On the short par-4 12^th, Woods attempted to drive the green but came up 25 metres short. He followed up the good drive with a chunked pitch shot, which fell short of the green and left two-time US Open Champion Curtis Strange stunned in the commentary box.

"He just chunked it," Strange said. "We’re seeing shots from this man that you just wonder what is going on. Just a simple, take your 60-degree lob wedge, fly it up on top, hit down on the ball."

Fellow commentator Paul Azinger, who earlier in the round called Woods "a middle-of-the-pack hack," said the pitch was "one of the easiest shots in the world for a guy of this talent," and blamed his continual swing changes as the root of all his problems.

"There was a time everyone wanted to swing like Tiger," he said, "except Tiger."

With his 76 posted, Tiger was still talking contending on Sunday.

“I've got to just fight, fight through it,” said Woods, in reference to his poor start. “I mean, I still had 17 holes to go, and just try and grind it out.

“I know that today is a very benign day. Guys are going to go low. Guys have been shooting good numbers. Unfortunately I did not do that.

“Hopefully the conditions will be tough tomorrow and I can put together a good round and we'll move up the board progressively.

“I'm so far back and the leaderboard is so bunched that in order for me to get in there by Sunday, I'm going to have to have the conditions tough and then obviously put together some really solid rounds, something like what J.D (John Daly) did back in '95.

The former World No.1 look out of sorts and downbeat throughout his round.
PHOTO: Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)

“If you shoot some good, solid rounds in tough conditions like that, players can move up the board, and hopefully I'm one of them.”

Playing partner Jason Day said it was hard to watch Tiger struggling the way he is.

“I grew up watching him. He was my idol growing up,” Day said. “He's why I'm a professional and why I chased the dream of becoming a professional. It's tough.

“The good thing about it is I saw him struggle a little bit before and he came back and got to No. 1, as well, so I know that he can get back out of this, it's just depending on how much he wants it. It's a little unfortunate to see him struggle like this because, I mean, it's just tough to see your idol struggle.

“Even though he's my mate and I grew up watching him and he's my idol, I've still got to go out there and compete against him, so I'm going to try to play the best I can.”

The Queenslander, who rattled off a flawless six under 66, said Woods was certainly finding it tough on and around the greens.

“He was just struggling a little bit getting into the greens,” Day said. “He just wasn't hitting it close enough. He made a few mental errors around the greens and then just tried to press from there. It's just difficult to do.”

Woods’ last three major championship rounds have amounted to an 80, 76 at Chambers Bay in the US Open, and 76 here in St Andrews. He might believe he can make the cut and still contend for his fourth Claret Jug, but anyone who watched him play his opening round can see he is a long way from playing the kind of golf that wins majors championships.