Tiger Woods: Day One doesn’t go as planned at British Open

Tiger Woods completed his first round at the British Open. Needless to say, it did not go as planned.

Day one of the British Open has come to a close, and Tiger Woods finds himself well out of contention. He shot a 78 to open the tournament, and things seemed off right away.

His opening tee shot made millions around the world gasp, texting their friends, and tweeting about what happened. No, it wasn’t a spectacular shot. Instead, it was this face from Tiger Woods.

Not a great start. He pulled his shot left, and grimaced after hitting it, seeming to have done something to his back.

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That was confirmed after the round in a tweet posted by Ryan Lavner, a senior writer at Golf Channel. He mentioned that his back was hurt, and it affected him all throughout the round.

For a while, it looked like Tiger was going to be able to play through the discomfort. He made a nice 12-footer on the first hole to save par. He followed that up with three more pars and was even through four holes.

Trouble found Tiger Woods at the fifth hole, and it was the start of one of the worst rounds of his career. It was his second-worst round ever at the British Open, only behind round three back in 2002, when he shot an 81.

A bogey on five would be the first of three bad holes in a row. He would double the par-3 sixth, and bogey the 7th. The sixth was particularly ugly.

After missing long left on the par 3, Tiger Woods tried to use the hill as a backstop and spin the ball back down onto the green. Instead, it spun left and ended up off the green. He would then chip on and two-putt.

The 7th was ugly all the way until his fifth shot. Multiple slips along the way led to Tiger being 60 yards out shooting for par. A beautiful pitch shot would settle within five feet, helping him to save bogey.

He would once again have back to back poor holes after a par on the 8th, bogeying both the 9th and 10th holes. Now at +6 through 10, all hope of Woods making any positive noise was out the door.

He would bogey 14, but gain the stroke right back at 15 with his first birdie of the day. He has plenty of opportunities up to that point but was unable to convert on any of them.

The day finished the way most watching him expected it would, as he would bogey 18. That left Tiger Woods with an opening round at the British Open of 78. It was one of the worst rounds of the day for anyone, and he finds himself T-144th, out of 156 golfers.

There was a lot of talk before the British Open about Tiger Woods play schedule. He hadn’t played competitive golf since the U.S. Open. This should have been a warning to anyone that was picking him to play well. There hasn’t been a golfer to go straight from the U.S. Open to the British Open and win since Johnny Miller back in 1976.

Going forward, Tiger Woods should be able to use this week, and this time in between events, to adjust his schedule more efficiently. He doesn’t need to play in every event. In order to contend, the Big Cat is definitely going to need to play more often.