Tiger Woods writhes in pain at the PGA | Sports

Drenched in sweat. Lame. With the pain drawn on the face. Tiger Woods ended up asking for the time on the first day of the PGA Championship, the second major of the season, that this Thursday began in the field of Southern Hills, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The 46-year-old 15-big champion returned to the ring after his suffering Augusta Masters, the first tournament he played after 508 days and a very painful recovery from the fracture of his right leg who suffered in a traffic accident. “Now I’m stronger,” he announced before starting the PGA. But the hardness of a round of golf, five hours walking with a final temperature of 34 degrees, turned the day into a physical ordeal for Tigre, who in the last holes writhed when he drew the swing.

Tiger signed four shots over par on the day, with two bogeys on the 8th and 9th holes (the round began on the 10th, and with birdie), when he came to march with -2. It is the long walks through the field that crush Woods’ already battered bodywork, a great attraction on a morning session in good conditions on a par 70 course with only two par fives.

El Tigre’s face changed as the field got steeper. From laughter with McIlroy he went on to gestures of suffering. And to some errors unbecoming of the myth, surely caused by the lack of shooting: very long shots, poorly calculated distances, poor shots… Tiger was not a Tiger, and it will be difficult for him to be one again when the simplest part of his job, walking between a blow and another, supposes an Everest to him. Three bogeys followed in the hinge of the day they sent him to the dungeon. The ice bath awaited him at the end of the day.

The reverse was one of his teammates, Rory McIlroy, who with -5 remembered his times of glory.

Complete classification of the PGA Championship.

You can follow EL PAÍS Sports in Facebook y Twitterthe apuntarte here to receive our weekly newsletter.