"I’m just having a hard time finding the bottom," said Woods in reference to his wedges. "Because of my old pattern, I was so steep on it, that I have a new grind on my wedge and sometimes it’s hard to trust."
Here's a look at the trainwreck:
Tiger Woods shoots 73 at Phoenix Open in first round of 2015
It certainly could have been worse for Tiger Woods at TPC Scottsdale as he went out in 39 before gathering himself on the back nine.
By
Kyle Porter
•
2 min read
It should tell you something that I have absolutely no clue how Tiger Woods managed to shoot a 73 on Thursday in the first round of the Phoenix Open.
It's not that being 2 over is good or anything, but the way Woods started I legitimately though he was going to shoot 80.
And how he started was much how he left off at the Hero World Challenge at the end of 2014. By botching a series of chips that made you wonder how he ever won a tournament, much less a major.
Woods bogeyed the first two holes and double bogeyed the fourth. He was making Willie Mays on the Mets look like Mike Trout on the Angels. It was tough to watch at times.
"I've been through it before," said Woods after his round. "Not the first time I've been through this. It just takes time."
It didn't get better right away, either. Woods went out in 39 and bogeyed the 11th before coming home with an eagle and a birdie to sort of salvage his first day in the desert.
The eagle was an absolute gem. A 5-iron from 225 yards away that nearly slid in the cup.
Woods' day was best summed up by what happened on the famous (and rowdy) No. 16. Tiger had to back off his tee ball twice because of noise from the crowd.
On a third try Woods hit a mediocre shot, and two-putted for par while both of his playing partners (Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed) made birdie. Strange, sort of successful but mostly just...average.
The Big Cat, who needed 30 putts and only hit 10/18 greens in regulation, did all of this in front of record crowds at TPC Scottsdale.
New attendance record today @WMPhoenixOpen of 118,461. Old one: 88,113. That beats last year by 30k. Still zero waste though. #greenestshow
— Waste Management (@WasteManagement) January 29, 2015
They were ruthless, too. Yelling things like "I would have packed it in by now" all day.
He will need much more on Friday if he has any intention of making the cut. At the time he finished Woods was T106 and two strokes of even par which looks like it will be the cut line.
"Mentally, I’m a little tired from the grind of trying to piece together a round when I was five-over par," said Woods. "But I fought back to give myself a decent look going into the weekend."
It wasn't the start I'm sure Woods wanted, but I suppose the silver lining is that he's playing golf and hitting awkward shots from awful lies seemingly without any pain in his back.
It's still hard to reconcile silver-lining 73s with one of the greatest of all time, though.
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