U.S. Open 2018: Tiger Woods highlights from Round 1
By Luke Norris
After shooting 38 (+3) on the front, here’s how Tiger Woods fared on the back nine of his first round at the 2018 U.S. Open from Shinnecock Hills.
10th hole
Getting his second nine started at the 418-yard, par-4 10th hole, Tiger Woods just missed the fairway and was left with a very difficult shot into this elevated green. By being in the first cut of rough, it would have been very difficult for him to be able to stop the ball on the green so he was actually aiming his second shot at the right-side bunker. He missed to the left and would have to come up with something spectacular to give himself any chance of saving par and did just that. He pitched up to about three-and-a-half feet and following a quick word with the rules official after the wind moved his ball, he holed a tricky putt down the hill to remain at 3-over.
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Thru 10: +3
11th hole
Tiger found some trouble off the tee at the par-3 11th. The shortest par-3 at Shinnecock Hills at 157 yards, Woods’ 8-iron started right and stayed there, eventually trickling down into the greenside bunker, just about the same place where Jordan Spieth was before making a triple-bogey earlier in the day. Tiger hit his second a little fat and wound up just under 18 feet from the hole. His par effort also came up short and he made his first bogey since the 2nd hole.
Thru 11: +4
12th hole
Back in the fairway at the par-4 12th, 302 yards down the right side, Tiger’s second shot from 143 yards came up about 30 feet short of the hole on the front fringe. Choosing to putt, Woods’ golf ball looked directly at the cup but decided that it didn’t quite want to go in and Tiger once again was disappointed with a par.
Thru 12: +4
13th hole
Well, much like the 1st hole, things started out normally for Tiger Woods at the short par-4 13th. Playing just 374 yards, he hit a conservative 227-yard shot down the left side of the fairway. He even went one better than his opening hole by hitting the green with his approach from 137. And then the wheels came off. From just under 41 feet, Woods left his birdie putt well short and still had a testy six-footer left for par. He hit that putt too hard but only had a little less than three feet for bogey. But then he missed that one as well. After walking away for a moment in an attempt to calm himself, he came back and tapped in for a four-putt double-bogey. Yikes.
Thru 13: +6
14th hole
It’s never easy to recover from a four-putt and Tiger certainly didn’t respond well. By far his worst tee shot of the day, Woods went into the very deep rough on the right side at the 14th, a 536-yard par-4. With a bad lie and 165 yards remaining to the hole, he got his club caught up in the rough and hit his second shot well left of the green into some even thicker rough. Even with only 92 yards left to the hole, Woods had no choice but to chip back out into the fairway, still leaving 43 yards to the cup. He finally got on with his fourth but another two putts gave him another double-bogey, giving him four dropped shots in two holes.
Thru 14: +8
15th hole
Perhaps still a bit disturbed from the four-jack at the 13th, Tiger’s 291-yard drive at the 404-yard, par-4 15th found the primary cut of rough. He came up just over 14 yards short of the green with his second but gave it a run at birdie with his third, his chip taking a look at hole before settling less than a foot from the hole. A quick tap-in and Woods was back on the par train.
Thru 15: +8
16th hole
Woods striped a 321-yard drive down the fairway at the extremely long par-5 16th. Tiger was left with 286 yards to the pin and pulled out a driving iron in an attempt to reach the green in two. He had the right distance but his second shot just didn’t draw for him and he found himself in the right-side bunker. He hit a decent shot out of the sand, leaving him about 10 feet up the hill for birdie but once again couldn’t convert. But hey, at least we got a smile out of him there.
Thru 16: +8
17th hole
Tiger hit 6-iron at the 185-yard, par-3 17th, a hole that had only given up four birdies all day at that point. With a back pin placement, it was hard for anyone to get the ball all the way back there but Woods was the closest in his group at 41 feet. He lagged up nicely and tapped in for par.
Thru 17: +8
18th hole
Tiger went with driver at the last, a 491-yard par-4, and just couldn’t keep it in the fairway (he went a bit downhill with his accuracy on the backside, especially after the four-putt on 13) as his ball rolled into the primary cut of rough. He had a decent lie from 182 yards but didn’t find the green and FOX had to cut away pretty quickly as he started yelling at himself. He was able to recover nicely with a great third shot that left just a couple feet for par and he knocked it in for a par to shoot 78.
Thru 18: +8
While Tiger Woods hit the ball well on Thursday, his short game really let him down for the most part and he’s going to have to find a way to start making some putts. A round of 78 put him in a tie for 104th place when he finished, nine strokes behind the lead, and he’s got some work to do on Friday morning. Once again, he’ll be playing with Dustin Johnson and Justin Thomas in Round 2 and that group tees off the 10th hole at 8:02 a.m. ET.
Next: 2018 U.S. Open Round 2 tee times
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