Tiger Woods shoots 74 in first round since March at Quicken Loans National

Tiger Woods was back on the golf course playing a competitive round of golf for the first time since March 9 when he teed off at the Quicken Loans National on Thursday.

More from Golf

Woods was noticeably rusty as he shot a 39 on the back-nine before settling in nicely and closing in typical Tiger fashion with a 35 on the front nine to finish with a three-over 74.

“The score is not really indicative of how I played,” said Woods. “I played better than that.”

Congressional Country Club was playing tough during the opening round with some comparing it to conditions typical with a U.S. Open course and shooting a 74 three months removed from back surgery is pretty darn impressive, especially for Woods who recently began hitting again earlier this month.

“I just haven’t had the amount of prep and reps that I would like, but I’m good enough to play, and I’m going to give it a go” he said.

Woods, however, was pleased with his opening round and didn’t think the score was indicative of just how well the former No. 1 golfer on the planet played, and considering he came back ahead of schedule which he said was The British Open, we should tip our cap to him today.

Here’s a shot-by-shot look at what Woods did in his first 18 holes since March courtesy of golfweek.com and his scorecard courtesy of Eye on Golf.

The most important thing today was not the score for Woods, but seeing how the back would fare after 18 holes and so many swings. Thankfully, for PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem, Woods and the thousands of golf fans who missed his presence on the tour, he came out feeling great.

“Back is great,” said Woods. “I had no issues at all…I feel fantastic. I think the hard part was getting into the rhythm of playing again competitively. Unfortunately it took a while.”

It was indeed great to see the 14-time Major champion on the links today.

Home/Golf