THOUSAND OAKS, CALIFORNIA. – Matthew Wolff swore he wasn’t too nervous, nor would he try to impress Tiger Woods on their first round of PGA TOUR together. In the end, he did both.
Playing with his idol and fellow Southern Californian Woods, 21-year-old Wolff shook off a difficult start in the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP @ SHERWOOD before shooting a respectable 3-under-69-year-old. He was compared by another young Californian boy in the group as a 26-year-old. One-year-old Xander Schauffele also showed great poise for recovering from a late triple bogey.
But the veteran 82-time TOUR winner they grew up with wanted to be – well, he had a day to forget.
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Woods put together a 4-over-76 on his first goal since the missed cut at the US Open, leaving the defending champion T75 on a 77-man field. The 44-year-old had a gloomy day off the tee, finishing last in the field in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee (-2,770). He hit only seven of 13 fairways.
His usual solid approach play was also missing when Woods finished 75th in Strokes Gained: Approach the Green (-3,129) as he only hit 10 out of 18 regulated greens. An 8-foot birdie putt on the par-5 hole 2 was one of only three putts Woods had made outside of 5 feet during the entire round.
If Woods is to repeat his victory from Japan a year ago, he will have to make up a deficit that is already 12 strokes after Sebastian Munoz opened with a 64 led by Justin Thomas and Tyrrell Hatton. He has three rounds to go as there is no cut, but it seems like a difficult road despite having won five times at Sherwood in the past.
For Wolff it was a roller coaster ride to be remembered. The young star grew up nearby and has played against Sherwood several times, but never as seriously in competition and never with Woods.
This was the legend he matched by winning the NCAA National Championship and a PGA TOUR event that same year. They are – along with Ben Crenshaw – the only three who have ever done the feat. So Wolff was careful to fall into the trap of impressing the player he’d once seen in the Sherwood galleries in the hope of an autograph or even just a wave.
