Tiger Woods’ hellish British Open 1st round comes to a merciful end

It took Tiger Woods exactly two swings on Thursday at St. Andrews to lose any confidence or momentum he gained two weeks ago at the Greenbrier, and his shot at contending for a fourth Claret Jug went all to hell from there.

After a semi-chunked tee shot on the Old Course’s first hole, Woods fatted an approach that splashed into the opening hole burn.

With five bogeys and a single birdie adding up to an opening-round four-over 76 -- his worst round as a professional in the Open at St. Andrews -- it seemed like deja vu all over again for the 14-time major champion who has become more familiar of late with last place than the winner’s circle.

Woods scuffled mightily on a day when the big boys -- including leader Dustin Johnson (65) and world No. 2 Jordan Spieth, two shots back after the morning wave -- went low. With just two players posting higher scores as he exited the 18th green, Tiger did indeed resemble a “shell” of the golfer who tore up St. Andrews in two of his three Open titles.

Though he put up the worst major score of his career at Chambers Bay, the abject awfulness of Woods’ play on Thursday was stunning after he went bogey-free in the Greenbrier finale. For sure, ESPN analysts were dumbfounded by what they witnessed.

“He just chunked it,” Curtis Strange said after Woods stubbed a pitch shot up a slope on No. 12 that came up well short of the green. “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.”

Paul Azinger, who earlier in the round termed Woods “a middle-of-the-pack hack,” called the pitch “one of the easiest shots in the world for a guy of this talent.”

After the apparent return of the chipping yips, Dottie Pepper, on the course with a reunion of the Woods-Louis Oosthuizen-Jason Day trio, suggested Tiger was close to raising the white flag.

“Tiger’s definitely starting to show the frustration,” Pepper said. “The second shot at the seventh [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.”

For sure, the former world No. 1 was as solemn on Thursday as he was relaxed and smiling during Wednesday’s Champions Challenge exhibition.

Woods continues to insist his game is close, but the question at this point is, to what? Hanging up his spikes and going into the golf course design biz full time?

After another embarrassing performance on a day when the rest of the field was annihilating the course, Woods choosing to overhaul his swing yet again sparked the usual criticism.

“I don’t think Jack [Nicklaus] ever went back to the drawing board and just threw it away and tried to start over again, let alone for the fourth time,” said Pepper, referring to the slump Nicklaus endured when he was Tiger’s age of 39. “There were foundations to Nicklaus’ game that never changed and Tiger has not had that.”

Azinger put it more succinctly.

“Everyone wanted to swing like Tiger,” he said, “except Tiger.”

★★★

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