Tiger Woods hates the slow greens at Muirfield

Tiger Woods came up short on putts on the first three holes of Sunday’s final round, which is not all that surprising considering how he blasted the speed of the greens after his 1-over 72 third round.

“It was very different today. It was a lot slower out there,” Woods told reporters Saturday following a lackluster day that included three bogeys and two birdies. “The greens were slower. It looked like they didn’t roll some of them or cut them. It was very different. Eighteen was really slow. I’m sure that there were quite a few guys leaving putts short from below the hole.

“Lee [Westwood, who played with Woods on Saturday] got fooled a couple of times and so did I,” Woods added. “We land the ball in green spots and it sticks. Land the ball in a dry spot and it runs 70, 80 yards. It was a really tough test and feel. And looking where you needed to land the ball and really try and land the ball on that number about with the correct spin.”

ESPN analyst noticed Woods’ problems with reaching the hole with his flat stick.

“That’s two putts in a row he’s just daintily rolled up to the cup,” said ESPN analyst Paul Azinger after Woods’ approach putt on No. 2. He was not the only observer to point out Woods’ loathing for slow putting surfaces.

Woods began the day two strokes back of 54-hole leader Lee Westwood and immediately dropped a shot at the par-4 first to fall back to even-par for the week.

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