Erratic swing, sluggish putter derail Tiger Woods’ start at The Players Championship

Head down, slumped shoulders and air-swinging his 9-iron as he followed a flailed tee shot, Tiger Woods’ walk down the 13th fairway pretty much summed up the opening round 73 he carded Thursday at The Players Championship.

“I believe that picture right there speaks for itself,” former Woods rival David Duval said during Golf Channel’s broadcast from TPC Sawgrass.

Small wonder Woods’ body language matched his efforts in his first competitive round since finishing T17 at the Masters. The two-time Players champ entered the week with little in the tank after sleepless nights following his split from girlfriend Lindsey Vonn and grieving his father, who died nine years ago this week.

Add a “fresh” swing change after hitting just two of 14 fairways on Sunday at Augusta and concerns about slow greens (a regular complaint by Woods, from Ponte Vedra to the British Isles), and that’s a recipe for frustration. And that’s exactly what defined Tiger’s up-and-down front nine and the start to his incoming holes.

He seemed to turn things around with a birdie on the par-4 14th, gave it right back on No. 15, and brought the crowd to its feet with back-to-back birdies on 16 and 17. But a rinsed tee shot and a double-bogey on No. 18 sealed his first-round, 1-over 73, fate.

Things got off to a woeful start for Woods, who pulled his first two tee shots with fairway woods way left of the short grass and, stunningly, fanned a 4-iron into a water hazard on the par-3 eighth that most in the strongest field of the season probably had no idea was even there.

Then there was the flat stick, which was not enough club for Woods on several greens where he came up woefully short. His nine-foot par putt on the par-4 first hole set the tone when it fell off to the right without even touching the cup.

There were certainly positives to take home for Woods. His bladed chip shot for birdie from the fringe after barely making it to the island green at 17 earned raucous cheers from the spectators and a tip o’ the cap from the 14-time major champion.

Unfortunately, such flashes of the Tiger of yore were too few and far between.

“I think he’s entirely lost,” Duval said after colleague Nick Faldo remarked that Woods rehearsed swings on the 13th tee in slow motion, much like he did in his prime.

“That’s really, sadly, the only thing that’s reminiscent of [Tiger, circa 2000],” added Duval. “Never seen such a brilliant player playing golf swing so much, like he is right now. It looks like he’s thinking of every golf position through the entire golf swing and I think that’s entirely handcuffed him, both physically and mentally.”

Woods, who left the course six shots back of a trio of clubhouse co-leaders, will try to work out his swing and putting issues on Friday, when he, Adam Scott, and defending champion Martin Kaymer will tee off No. 10 at 8:39 a.m. ET. After all, there’s still hope.