British Open 2019: Tiger Woods grimaces, struggles during first-round 78

Tiger Woods’ first round started with a grimace and ended with a score that trailed most of the field. There was little good in between during his opening-round 78.

Woods looked in pain as he reached down to grab his tee on the first hole of the day. It was a concerning sight for many fans, but the 43-year-old got up and down from the fairway for par. Not to worry. He  parred the next three holes, easing into the round, just four shots behind then-leader Shane Lowry.

But after bogeying the 5th, Woods couldn’t muster up one of his classic bounce-back, grinding rounds. He’d make a double bogey one hole later on the par-3 6th.

Woods appeared to grimace at other points in his round, too, notably on the par-4 9th. After missing the fairway left, Woods punched through the thick fescue. It was a theme of his front nine, battling that wet, long grass. Woods made a frustrating bogey on the par-5 7th by hitting multiple shots from the fescue. He would turn in 41, five over par.

Only when he made 3 on the par-4 15th was he finally able to mark a circle on his scorecard. He sarcastically raised his hands wide, a visual interpretation of “finally.”

.@TigerWoods Celebrates his first birdie of the day!  #TheOpen

Live coverage ?TheOpenLiveCoverage pic.twitter.com/Pwg9q6OWyh

— The Open (@TheOpen) July 18, 2019

Tapping in for bogey on the 18th, Woods had shot his worst round in a major since the first round of the U.S. Open at Chambers Bay, during his woeful 2015 season. Woods will not have much time to bother himself with his Thursday performance. He will tee off with Matt Wallace and Patrick Reed again Friday at 10:09 a.m. local time (5:09 a.m. ET).

Woods was not the only player (and former champion) to struggle Thursday. Rory McIlroy shot 79 and 2013 champion Phil Mickelson carded a 76.