Tiger Woods trudged off the last green at steamy Firestone Country Club on Thursday, having watched haplessly as yet another putt would not fall for him.
“You’re washed up, Tiger,” a heckler yelled. “Give it up.”
Ouch!
Woods didn’t acknowledge the man, but that’s what it’s come to for the world No. 1, who spoke so optimistically about turning his year around just a day earlier, only to go out on one of his favorite courses and play as cluelessly as he has all year.
Woods had never shot worse than 72 in 45 rounds as a professional at Firestone’s venerable South Course, where he’s won seven of 11 times, including his previous four starts.
Thursday he opened with a diabolical 4-over-par round of 74, which left him ahead of only eight players in the 81-man World Golf Championship field.
He’s 10 shots off Bubba Watson’s lead. Woods has never in his career overcome a first-round deficit so large.
He has twice come from eight shots back after the first round to win, once in his rookie year at Las Vegas and last year at the final Buick Open.
But that win in Flint, Mich., was against a field so weak that his agent, Mark Steinberg, congratulated Woods on winning his “first Nationwide event.”
At Firestone he’ll need to leapfrog the best players in the world.
Woods, to his credit, fronted the media after his round and offered no excuses. He said he was surprised at how badly he played.
“It’s frustrating because I warmed up well, my practice sessions at home were good, and today was not indicative of how I’ve been playing,” he said.
The official line was that Tiger Woods “politely declined” to address the media after another ill-fated round at the Bridgestone Invitational Friday.
I seriously doubt he was very polite. It was only the second time all year that Woods had not spoken to the media after a round. But, then again, what was there to say?
A day after shooting a disastrous 74 — his worst round ever at Firestone Country Club — Woods hit the ball worse but scrambled better to turn in a two-over-par 72.
When he finished, at six over par, he was languishing in a tie for 75th on a course he’s won on seven of 11 times.
Woods, who was ahead of only five players when he tapped in for bogey on his last hole, has never finished worse than fourth here. It was the first time he’d ever posted back-to-back over-par rounds at any World Golf Championships event. In 15 years as a professional, Woods has only four times posted a worse 36-hole score.
But maybe those kinds of statistics have now become irrelevant. Because this isn’t the same Tiger Woods.
Not only has his game gone AWOL but I thought after watching him play on Thursday that his heart just wasn’t in it. He seemed like he’d regressed.
The promise of the AT&T National and St. Andrews — baby steps, admittedly, given his mediocre finishes — gave way to the disinterest of Quail Hollow, where Woods slapped it around and missed the cut.
Certainly he’s played at Firestone like he wants the weekend off. Except there’s no cut at the World Golf Championships, so he’ll be forced to toil for two more days.
Maybe his heart’s not in it because, as I’m told, his divorce papers are close to being signed?
AKRON, Ohio – Tiger Woods logged another miserable round and then all but conceded the No. 1 spot in the world to Phil Mickelson.
In the third round of the Bridgestone Invitational on Saturday, Woods had five bogeys, a double-bogey and two birdies in a 5-over 75. He is 11 over — his worst score in relation to par through 54 holes since turning professional in 1996.
Woods, whose personal life has been in tatters since revelations of infidelity last November, has been the No. 1-ranked golfer in the world for more than five years. But Mickelson can overtake him with a high finish — something that Woods fully expects.
"Well, if Phil plays the way he's supposed to this weekend, then he'll be No. 1," Woods said after completing third-round play at Firestone Country Club.
Mickelson was tied for second, a shot back of Retief Goosen after two rounds and had yet to tee off in the third round.
A week before the PGA Championship and with six weeks left to the Ryder Cup, Woods' game is in shambles.
He actually drove the ball slightly better on Saturday, hitting half of the 14 fairways, but showed no consistency.
He was 1 over through six holes, but then jerked an iron far to the left of the green and into a large bunker next to the par-3 seventh.
As he has done so often on Sunday at the Bridgestone Invitational, Woods doffed his cap as he walked up toward the 18th green to warm applause from fans who occupied every seat in the grandstand.
Only there was no trophy waiting for him. This sounded more like a sympathy cheer.
The world's No. 1 player looked utterly beaten, and he was.
"Shooting 18-over par is not fun," Woods said. "I don't see how it can be fun shooting 18 over."
He missed one last birdie putt to close with a 77. That gave Woods the highest 72-hole score — 298 — of any PGA Tour event he ever played, even as an amateur. It was the first time he shot over par in all four rounds since the 2003 PGA Championship at Oak Hill.
This from a guy who had never finished worse than fifth at Firestone in 11 previous events, who had not shot over par on the South Course since 2006, who last year made PGA Tour history by winning for the seventh time on the same course.
The numbers associated with Woods always have been staggering, now more than ever.
His 298 was 39 shots higher than the record score he shot 10 years ago at Firestone. He tied for 78th, the highest finish of his PGA Tour career. Only Henrik Stenson (20-over 300) kept Woods from finishing dead last. He set a career low by making bogey or worse on 25 of the 72 holes.
No one expected him to dominate as he did before revelations of his sexual escapades in November.
Jim Gray to Ryder Cup Captain, Corey Pavin: "If Tiger Woods doesn't qualify for the Ryder Cup team, would you use one of you captain's picks to select him?"
Corey Pavin: “Of course I’m going to [pick him]. He’s the best player in the world,” Pavin told Gray Tuesday in the Whistling Straits clubhouse.
That is very difficult to explain to ethnocentric fools that know NOTHING about the game.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "There is almost artistic vulgarity in Gingrich's unrepented role as a hired larynx for interests profiting from such government follies as ethanol and cheap mortgages" -- George Will
Posts: 13987 | Location: A streetcar named desire | Mbr Since: 11-06-2008
Tiger Woods hit three fans with errant shots at last week's World Golf Championship in Akron. It was bad. You never thought you'd see the day when Tiger Woods could add up his score after each hole by looking down the fairway and counting the wounded.
Comedian Argus Hamilton
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Drill, Baby, Still
Standing in the Way of Big Goverment is Not Standing in the Way of Progress
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "There is almost artistic vulgarity in Gingrich's unrepented role as a hired larynx for interests profiting from such government follies as ethanol and cheap mortgages" -- George Will
Posts: 13987 | Location: A streetcar named desire | Mbr Since: 11-06-2008
Sure, we all know about his off-the-course problems. But this is a guy who came back from all that and tied for fourth at the Masters, his first tournament in five months.
The thinking then was Woods would simply shake the rust off his game and continue his success from 2009, when he won six times and finished second three others.
Instead, he has gotten rustier. He followed the Masters with a missed cut, a withdrawal from the Players Championship and a tie for 19th at the Memorial. His tie for fourth at the U.S. Open was clearly an aberration. In the three tournaments after that, he has shot in the 60s only once. He has seven consecutive rounds in the 70s, and his 18-over-par performance at last week's Bridgestone Invitational was a career worst.
He is certainly not playing like the Woods who has 71 PGA Tour victories and 14 major championships.
"Tiger Woods right now is playing the worst I've ever seen him play," former coach Butch Harmon told Sky Sports. "I've known Tiger since he was a teenager and he looks lost out there. Tiger Woods has got to get his head right; he's got to get his life in order before he can even think about playing golf. (But) I think if Phil Mickelson gets to No. 1 in the world, that's a big motivational thing for Tiger."
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--Al Gore, Vice President
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