Tiger Woods made his way to a par 73 with three wins in the opening round of the 120th US Open and put the 15-time main winner in danger of missing the cut.
The inconsistent 44-year-old reigning Masters champion made six pars, six bogeys, five birdies, and a closing double bogey at Winged Foot, so he risked the cut for the third time in his last four US Open starts and at fourth time missing out on time in his career.
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“There was a bit of ebb and flow in the round,” said Woods. “I didn’t finish the lap the way I needed to. I did a couple of putts in the middle part of the lap.
“It seemed like most of my runs ended up on the fairway on the top nine and ended up in bad spots. I tried to be as patient as possible and unfortunately I didn’t finish my lap the way I needed to . “
World No. 21 Woods has won a record 82 US PGA Tour titles, equaling Sam Snead for the all-time record, and for a while struggled to make the most of a tough day.
Woods escaped a bunker on the green at six feet and made the par putt on the par-3 third, but made bogeys on the fourth and fifth before dropping his approach to the sixth to seven feet and sinking the par putt.
At eight o’clock he bogeyed after finding thick rough off the tee, then responded with three birdies in a row.
Woods pocketed a 30-foot birdie putt on par-5, followed by a 24-foot birdie putt on par-3, and added a 19-foot birdie putt on par-11. 4 added.
“In the middle part of my lap a lot of things were going my way,” said Woods. “At the start of the lap it seemed like things weren’t going my way. Good tee shots ended up bad in the rough, and I had a nice little hot run there in the middle of my lap. “
But on a 17-foot birdie putt, the par-5 12 was canceled and the magic seemed to go away.
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Woods found a bunker on par-3 13 to build bogey, went into a deep rough at 14 en route to another bogey and closed a bogey double bogey to fall out of reach of the leaders and set the pace to improve.
“When you hit a really good putt at 12, you thought it was going in, and then I ripped it out and made two bogeys after that,” Woods said. “I didn’t finish my lap the way I needed to.”
Woods had no complaints with the setup at Winged Foot, which had light winds and receptive greens for early starters like Woods until the day got hot.
“The golf course was fantastic. What they did with the hole positions was very fair, ”said Woods. “It gave us a chance to do some birdies and you look at most of the scores and the guys took advantage of it.
“I see no reason why it doesn’t get harder and harder. I just think the golf course is there. You gave us a lot of options. “
Woods hasn’t ruled out taking advantage of them and hunting again.
“We still have a long way to go. This is a long marathon of a tournament, ”said Woods. “There are many different things that can go on.”
AFP
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