U.S. Open: Tiger Woods teases fans, then falters in Round 1

Tiger Woods got off to a roaring start on Thursday at Pinehurst No. 2, making birdie to begin the championship at the par-5 10th. He briefly held a share of the lead.

Some clutch par putts followed at the 12th and 13th holes, but then the train began to veer off the tracks at the challenging par-4 16th.

Four bogies over the next six holes followed, and suddenly, Woods went from 1-under to 3-over at the drop of the dime. He ultimately carded a 4-over 74.

The 15-time major winner blamed it on his poor ball striking and putting afterward.

“I didn’t hit my irons particularly well. Didn’t putt that great,” Woods assessed.

“Drove it on the string all day. Unfortunately, I just didn’t capitalize on it.”

Woods hit 12 of 14 fairways but only nine greens in regulation. He lost more than two strokes on approach and missed plenty of irons to the right. But he did not try to play aggressively and attack flag sticks, which is a necessity for success at Pinehurst No. 2.

“I was somewhat conservative in some of my endpoints,” Woods said.

Photo by David Cannon/Getty Images

“Then again, I didn’t hit the ball very well either. It added up to quite a bit of distance away from the flag. It’s not where I wanted to be on a lot of the holes. It just ended up being that far away because I wasn’t as sharp as I needed to be.”

Because Woods left himself plenty of real estate between his ball and the hole, he three-putted on a few occasions—an easy way to drop strokes.

“This golf course is all about the greens. The complexes are just so difficult and so severe that, I think 1-under par is only in fifth [right now]. There aren’t that many scores that are low. It’s hard to get the ball close,” Woods explained.

“In most golf courses you play, you hit shots into where it’s feeding off of slopes into flags, whereas collecting. Here everything is repelling. It’s just hard to get the ball on top of the shelves. If you miss it short side, it’s an auto bogey or higher. Being aggressive to a conservative line is I think how you need to play this particular golf course.”

Woods did get cheeky on the dogleg right par-4 7th but wound up short-siding himself into the greenside bunker. He then hit his third shot 18 feet past the hole, as another bogey stared him right in the face. But he drained the comebacker to save par. He made a few of those momentum-saving putts on Thursday and still shot 74.

But then, he dropped another shot on the challenging par-4 8th, his 17th hole of the day.

As for how he feels after the round, Woods said his mobility is improving.

“I’m physically getting better as the year has gone on,” Woods said.

Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images

“I just haven’t been able to play as much because I just don’t want to hurt myself, so I won’t be able to play in the major championships. It’s pick your poison, right? Play a lot with the potential of not playing, or not playing, and fight being not as sharp.”

He now has 24 hours to prepare for his second round, which will begin at 1:14 p.m. ET on Friday. But instead of heading to the recovery room, Woods said he would like to go to the putting green to work on some things. Perhaps his son Charlie can lend a helping hand.

“I’d like to hit a few putts. My speed was not quite there,” Woods said.

“If I clean that up, if I get a couple of iron shots not as loose as I did, I’m right there at even par. It can go so far the other way here, the wrong way. It’s just so hard to get back. This is a golf course that doesn’t give up a whole lot of birdies. It gives up a lot of bogeys and higher.”

If he can clean up those mistakes, Woods will play the weekend. But if he fails to figure out the pace of Pinehurst’s famed ‘Turtleback Greens,’ Woods will miss the cut, just as he did in his last U.S. Open appearance at Winged Foot in 2020.

Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.