Tiger Woods had high hopes heading into this U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, but after the 1st hole he might want to temper his expectations.
Woods got off to a worse start than he could have imagined Thursday, making a disatrous triple bogey at the par-4 1st hole. Making matters worse is that the 1st is playing easier than most holes at Shinnecock Hills so far.
Woods had a fine tee shot, taking an iron and pummeling it low underneath the gusting winds and into the fairway.
Tiger’s first tee shot at the #USOpen since 2015. pic.twitter.com/o2HJ2oK9Rm
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) June 14, 2018
He hit a nice appraoch shot too, but his ball just missed being perfect and ended up rolling down the hill that guards the green and into a collection area.
With the hole raised about 10 feet above him, Woods came up short with his chip shot, and the ball rolled back down the hill. He reset and took another swing, but once again it failed to stay on the putting surface. He then pulled putter and his fifth shot finally made it on, but he was left with a mid-range putt for double. He missed it, and tapped in for a massively disappointing triple-bogey 7. He added a bogey at the next hole to drop to four over.
It will be tough to come back from such a horrible start, but the scores are high today, so if Woods can get it together he can find a way to stick around and survive to give himself a chance in Friday’s second round.
