ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — Tiger Woods was alone again on the 18th hole of the Old Course: a yellow scoreboard in front of him and the light behind him faded as locals and American visitors shouted “Tigerrrrrr!” shouted. from behind the barricades.
But this was not a victory march at the British Open. This was the end of one of the worst rounds Woods has played in a major: a six-over-par 78 that was a stark reminder of how much water has flowed under the Swilcan Bridge since his days of domination in St Andrews.
Woods, who won the Open Championship here in 2000 and 2005, was hastily introduced to the water on his return on Thursday. After receiving the loudest applause of the day from the crowd that gathered on the first hole, he hit his opening tee shot in a normally safe area (“a perfect shot,” he said) and then went into another divot. landing his approach shot to the green in an adventure.
“I said to myself, ‘Don’t smash it and don’t beat it,'” Woods said. “I didn’t either, but I still hit it.”
A burn in Scottish language is a ditch filled with water, and the ditch in this case was the Swilcan Burn defending the first green. Woods’ shot went down after one bounce, and he eventually missed a short putt and started his tournament with a double bogey.
As the omens go, it was an accurate one as he continued to struggle into the wind, bogeying on the third and fourth holes and making another double bogey on the par-4 seventh before making his first birdies of the round on the par-4 ninth and par-4 tenth.
But that was a false dawn as he resumed leaving key chips and putts well below their targets.
When asked what was the most disappointing, Woods didn’t hesitate.
“I think only the total score,” he said. “I feel like I haven’t hit it so bad. Yes, I had bad speed on the green, but I didn’t really feel like I was hitting it that hard. But I ended up in bad places or just had weird things. And that’s how it goes. Links golf is like that, and this golf course is like that. And like I said, I had my chances to flip it and get it to roll the right way, and I didn’t.
He certainly didn’t, and it will take a sensational round and turn on Friday before he even makes the cut and ends up in the top 70 golfers.
“Looks like I have to shoot 66 tomorrow to have a chance,” he said. “It’s clearly done. Guys did it today, and that’s my responsibility tomorrow, is to go ahead and do it. ”
He is already 14 shots behind leader, 25-year-old American Cameron Young, who shot an eight-under-par 64 in his first tournament round at St Andrews after hitting the Old Course for the first time during a visit to Scotland. played. family when he was 13.
Woods also first came here in his teens, playing the 1995 Open Championship as a 19-year-old amateur who was still learning the quirks and charms of left golf. He made the cut in his debut, but faded and shot 78 on the final round: his worst round at St Andrews until Thursday.
But Woods learned quickly and when he returned to the Old Course in 2000, he played some of the best golf ever played and completed the Grand Slam career with an eight stroke win that was all the more remarkable because everyone, including his rivals, expected him to dominate.
He performed, never hitting a bunker and setting a record for a major by finishing at 19 under par. He performed again in 2005 when the Open returned to St Andrews when he won by five shots and that followed by winning the 2006 Open at Royal Liverpool in bone-dry conditions that turned the fairways into fast-flowing arteries. He responded by using irons from the tee for control and holding them beautifully until he took the win and wept on the shoulder of his caddy, Steve Williams, overwhelmed by his feelings for his father, Earl, who was only a few weeks old. died before the tournament.
Sixteen years later, Woods remains golf’s biggest star, even if he’s only a part-time competitor struggling to find shape following the February 2021 single-vehicle accident in which he suffered serious injuries and doctors considered amputation of his right leg.
Returning to St Andrews was one of his main motivations as he chose to resume his career and made a late decision to enter this year’s Masters where he previously shot an opening round of 71 fade to 47th. He then played in the PGA Championship in May, retreating in pain for the last round after shooting a 79. He chose not to play in the US Open to be ready for St. Andrews.
Thursday was his first round of competition in nearly two months, and he looked and felt stronger, barely limping for most of the afternoon.
“Yeah, it was a lot easier physically today than the other two events,” Woods said.
While the Old Course is not the most physically demanding course with its relatively flat layout, the round turned into an endurance test, lasting just over six hours due to back-ups on the course that allowed Woods and his playing partners Max Homa and Matt Fitzpatrick, the US Open championhave to wait repeatedly.
Homa, an American who eventually scored a career goal playing a round with Woods, took full advantage of the extra time and chatted extensively with Woods, who actually looked less grim on the back nine than on the front nine.
“If there was anyone else in my group, if it was probably just Matt, I would have complained all day,” he said, adding that it was the “coolest” day he’s had on a golf course.
“It was a dream come true, minus some of the wave,” Homa said. “It really felt like fantasy.”
Woods might have chosen nightmare, but he sounded happy that he’d gotten healthy enough to play
“Very, very significant,” he said of his return to St Andrews. Woods added: “This was always on the calendar to hopefully be good enough to play it. And I am. I just didn’t do it right.”
But Woods, even reduced to 46, still has the ability to cause goosebumps. You could see and hear it all afternoon – and there was plenty of time to see and hear it – as he navigated the Old Course and fans lined up, often four rows deep behind the ropes with their cell phones held aloft. to take pictures of him, even from a distance. Many of them were parents with children far too young to have seen Woods at his best. Some held up stuffed tigers.
“They were fantastic, absolutely fantastic,” Woods said of the gallery. “So supportive.”
But the poignant truth is that the woods that so many roared at were the woods they remembered, not the woods they looked at. For now, he is what he never wanted to be: a ceremonial golfer, a big star but no longer a great threat, walking the same fairways and greens but no longer making the same birdies and eagles.
As he headed over the Swilcan Bridge to the 18th hole late Thursday after a long and draining day, a woman on a third-floor balcony overlooking the course encapsulated the mood and reality as she shouted from above, “Tiger !!!!! 20000!!!! 2005!!!!!”