Tiger Woods’s first-ever competitive swing in Mexico could not have gone much worse. Woods, who is making his debut appearance south of the border at this week’s WGC-Mexico Championship, took a fairway wood off the first tee and fired it down the left side and out of play en route to a double-bogey 6.
After Woods’s initial snipe left, he re-teed and fired the same club on a similar line — “That one looks like it’s going farther left,” the Golf Channel announcer mused — but stayed just inside the treeline. From there Woods managed to punch his fourth shot into the greenside bunker before making a neat up-and-down for double.
First shot for Tiger Woods @WGCMexico?
Out of bounds.
A double bogey to start. pic.twitter.com/8oV7DdhK2u
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 21, 2019
It didn’t take long for Woods to rebound, naturally. The 43-year-old made pars on 2 and 3 before setting a charge into the crowd with birdies at Nos. 4 and 5.
Birdie-Birdie for @TigerWoods.
Roars galore @WGCMexico. 🗣#QuickHits pic.twitter.com/goX6JPFoJq
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 21, 2019
Heading into the week, Woods acknowledged his debut at Chapultepec Golf Club would require a bit of an adjustment. The course is tight, tree-lined and at high altitude — nearly 8,000 feet — which means the ball flies differently in the air.
“I need to figure out how far this ball is going,” he said Wednesday. “It’s a challenge. I hit a couple shots with wedge on the course yesterday that flew 180. On Sunday [at Riviera] I hit a five-iron from 171.”
Woods, who announced Thursday that he’ll be skipping next week’s Honda Classic, is playing alongside Bryson DeChambeau and Abe Ancer in the tournament’s first two rounds.
