ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — Tiger Woods was walking alone again on the 18th hole of the Old Course, a yellow scoreboard in front of him and the light fading behind him as local and American visitors shouted “Tigerrrrr!” from behind the barricades.
But it was no British Open victory march. It 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 dominance at St. Andrews.
Woods, who won the Open here in 2000 and 2005, reacquainted himself with the water in a hurry on his return on Thursday. After receiving the loudest cheers of the day from the crowd that had gathered on the first hole, he hit his tee shot into a normally safe space (“a perfect shot,” he said), only to land another putt that reversed his approach of a shot to the green in an adventure.
“I was like, ‘Don’t hit it and don’t cut it,'” Woods said. “I did neither, but I still hit it in the burn.”
A burn in Scots is a ditch full of water, and the ditch in this case was Swilcan Burn, which protects the first green. Woods’ putt fell off one bounce and he ended up missing a short putt to start his tournament in two strokes.
By omens, that was accurate as he continued to battle the wind, bogeying 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 tenths.
But it was a false dawn as he continued to leave crucial chips and putts well short of his targets.
Asked what was most disappointing, Woods didn’t hesitate.
“I think just the overall score,” he said. “I feel like I didn’t hit him that bad. Yes, I did have bad green speed, but I didn’t feel like I hit it that bad. But I ended up in bad places or just had some weird things happen to me. And that’s just how it happens. Links golf is like that, and this golf course is like that. And like I said, I had my chances to turn it around and spin it the right way, but I didn’t.
He certainly didn’t, and he’ll need a sensational round and turnaround on Friday to even qualify and land in the top-70 golfers.
“Looks like I’ll have to shoot 66 tomorrow to have a chance,” he said. “Obviously it was done. Guys did it today and that’s my responsibility tomorrow is to go ahead and do it.”
He is now 14 strokes behind the leader, 25-year-old American Cameron Young, who shot an eight-under 64 in his first round at St Andrews after playing the Old Course for the first time during a visit to Scotland with his family. when he was 13.
Woods first came here in his teens, too, playing in the 1995 Open as a 19-year-old amateur still getting to grips with the quirks and charms of links golf. He made the cuts on his debut but faded and shot 78 in 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 was playing some of the best golf ever played and completed his career Grand Slam with an eight-stroke victory that was all the more remarkable because as everyone, including his rivals, expected him to dominate.
He delivered without hitting a bunker and set a record for a major by finishing at 19 under par. He performed again in 2005 when the Open returned to St Andrews, winning by five strokes and then followed it up by winning the 2006 Open at Royal Liverpool in dry conditions that turned the fairways into fast moving are road arteries. He responded by using an iron off the tee for control and holding it beautifully until he completed the win and cried on the shoulder of his caddy, Steve Williams, overcome by his feelings for his father, Earl, who had died just weeks before the tournament.
Sixteen years later, Woods remains golf’s biggest star despite only being a part-time competitor, still struggling to find form after the one-car crash in February 2021 that left him with serious injuries and doctors to consider amputating his right leg.
A return to St Andrews was one of his main motivations when he chose to restart his career, making a late decision to enter this year’s Masters, where he shot an opening-round 71 before fading to a 47th. He then played in the PGA Championship in May, withdrawing in pain before the final round after shooting a 79. He opted not to play the US Open, looking to be ready for the St. Andrews.
Thursday was his first competitive round in nearly two months, and he looked and felt stronger, limping only slightly, if at all, for most of the afternoon.
“Yeah, today was a lot easier, physically, than the other two events for sure,” Woods said.
Although the old course is not the most physically demanding course with its relatively flat layout, the round turned into a test of endurance lasting just over six hours due to course backups, prompting Woods and his playing partners Max Homa and Matt Fitzpatrick to The US Open champion has to wait multiple times.
Homa, an American who finally accomplished a career-long goal by playing a round with Woods, made the most of the extra time, chatting at length with Woods, who actually looked less gloomy on the back nine than he did on the front nine.
“If there was anyone else in my group, if it was probably just Matt, I would have been complaining all day,” he said, adding that it was the “coolest” day he’s ever had on a golf course.
“It was a dream come true kind of day minus the golf part,” Homa said. “It really felt like a fantasy.”
Woods may have chosen the nightmare, but he sounded pleased that he was able to get healthy enough to play
“Very, very meaningful,” he said of his return to St Andrews. Woods added: “It’s always been on the calendar to hopefully be good enough to play. And I’m. I just didn’t do a very good job.”
But Woods, even emaciated at 46, still has the ability to give goosebumps. You could see and hear him all afternoon — and there was plenty of time to see and hear him — as he navigated the Old Course and fans lined up, often four rows deep behind the ropes with cell phones raised, to snap his picture, even from a distance. Many were parents with children too young to have seen Woods at his best. Some held stuffed tigers.
“They were fantastic, absolutely fantastic,” Woods said of the gallery. “So supportive.”
But the poignant truth is that the forests that so many people roared about were the forests they remembered, not the forests they saw. For now, he is what he never wanted to be: a ceremonial golfer, a major star but no longer a major threat, walking the same fairways and greens but no longer making the same birdies and eagles.
As he made his way across the Swilcan Bridge and onto the 18th hole late Thursday after a long and exhausting day, a woman on a third-floor balcony overlooking the course summed up the mood and reality as she screamed from on high, “Tiger !!!! ! 20000!!!! 2005!!!!”
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