The Open 2018: Tiger Woods highlights from Round 1

Here’s a hole-by-hole look at the opening round of Tiger Woods at The Open Championship from Carnoustie.

For the first time in three years, Tiger Woods is back at The Open Championship. While he certainly started his day off better than he did in the opening round of last month’s U.S. Open — a birdie as opposed to a triple-bogey — the three-time Open champion lost a couple shots coming in. Still, he’s right in the mix heading into Friday’s second round.

Teeing off alongside Hideki Matsuyama and Russell Knox at 10:21 a.m. ET, there was plenty of Tiger talk before he even got to the first hole as a few cameras caught a glimpse of tape on his neck — not a good sign for someone who’s had four back surgeries. However, it appears that it was just a case of sleeping the wrong way. He is in his 40s now so that’s just going to happen and it didn’t seem to affect his play in any way.

So let’s take a look at how Tiger Woods did in Round 1 of The Open Championship at Carnoustie.

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1st hole

Tiger Woods opened his round with a nice tee shot at the 396-yard, par-4 1st hole, certainly a good sign. With 134 yards left to the hole on top of the hill, he hit a beautiful shot to set up a birdie putt from about eight feet. Moving a little right to left, his putt was absolutely perfect to give him his first birdie at the opening hole of a major championship since The Open in 2012 at Royal Lytham & St. Annes. Great start.

Thru 1: -1

2nd hole

Woods hit his second consecutive fairway, going with 3-wood this time, at the 461-yard, par-4 2nd and was left with 164 yards to the hole.

He gave himself another look at birdie on the approach, hitting his second pin-high about 25 feet away. His putt just missed on the high side and he tapped in for par.

Thru 2: -1

3rd hole

Following another good tee shot at the short, par-4 3rd hole, Tiger once again had wedge coming in and while he surely wanted to be a bit closer, he still had a birdie putt to get to 2-under for the day. The pace was perfect but it was a little off the mark to the left and he once again tapped in for par to stay at 1-under for the day, four back of the lead.

Thru 3: -1

4th hole

Once again going with iron off the tee, Tiger went down the left side, flirting with the hazard but caught a good break on the hill and went right back into the fairway. From 164 yards out, he thought he hit his approach a little too hard but that certainly wasn’t the case as his ball came to rest only five feet from the cup, setting up his second birdie in the first four holes to move into the top 10.

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Thru 4: -2

5th hole

After finding yet another fairway with an iron off the tee, Tiger was a little back at 191 yards for his approach at the 5th and hit his first poor shot of the day, going right down into the collection area to the right of the green, leaving a very tricky third. Choosing to putt, he played about 10 feet of break and made a beautiful stroke, needing just one more roll to go in. Another tap-in for par. Good save heading into heading into the par-5.

Thru 5: -2

6th hole

Woods hit a monster drive at the 580-yard, par-5 6th hole, his ball landing in Hogan’s Alley and running out 91 yards to get to 365, leaving him just 191 yards for his second. With a touch of breeze coming from the left, Woods hit an 8-iron short and left into a very awkward bunker on the downslope. He played a beautiful shot coming out, landing gently on another downslope on the green and trickling down towards the hole, resting about six feet from the hole. However, his birdie effort slid left and he walked away with a disappointing par.

Thru 6: -2

7th hole

Tiger hit his patented stinger at the par-4 7th, once again down the center of the fairway, avoiding bunker trouble that comes into play on this hole. With 162 yards remaining, Woods once again showed good distance control, leaving his approach pin-high to the left. Showing great touch on the green, he hit his 30-footer to within a foot and tapped in for another par to remain three shots back of the lead at 2-under.

Thru 7: -2

8th hole

Woods found the smallest green on the course at the 187-yard, par-3 8th with an 8-iron but left himself a lengthy effort for birdie. Another great lag and another par.

Thru 8: -2

9th hole

With the game plan firmly in place, Tiger went with iron again on the final hole of his first nine, playing 463 yards in Round 1, and found the light rough but was still in good position for his second. To give you an idea on making a choice on these tee boxes, Dustin Johnson went with driver earlier in the day and hit his 408 yards as opposed to the 221 hit by Tiger here. Certainly not his best swing thus far, Woods came up short and right of the green on his approach, short-siding himself and leaving a delicate third from the bunker. He hit a solid shot to about eight feet and had his biggest test of the day for par and went with a mini-fist bump as he drained his putt to go out with a 2-under 34.

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Thru 9: -2