Tiger Woods played two brilliant rounds at his own tournament on Thursday and Friday, shooting rounds of 66 and 68 at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club. Woods not only made the cut, a notable achievement in his miserable 2015 season, he ended play Friday in a tie for fifth place, just three shots off the lead.
But Woods’ resurgence hit another major roadblock Saturday in the third round, shooting 74 on a day that most of the field was going low (including his playing partner Charles Howell III).
Woods’ disappointing third round performance was much more in line with what he’s done for most of this year. He struggled to a 3-over 74 to drop back to -5 for the tournament, nine back of the leaders. Woods’ ball-striking was significantly worse on Saturday when compared to Thursday and Friday, and he really struggled to get off of the tee, especially early in his round.
Woods said after his round that he was a bit surprised by his play and that he spent Saturday searching for the opportunity to just make a shot.
“Am I surprised?” said Woods. “Yeah, a little bit. I was waiting for the one moment, the one shot. I couldn’t find it.”
Woods didn’t hit a fairway until the eighth hole on Saturday, but he had somehow scrambled his way to seven pars in the first seven holes. Ironically, it was following his best tee shot of the day on the Par 5 8th that he ended up making his first bogey.
Woods double-crossed himself with a pull hook from the fairway with a 5-wood that put him 40 yards deep and left of the green. He then hacked it out, off of some hard-packed wood chips, but sent it way over the green to the right with his third before finally getting on with his fourth and two-putting for bogey.
Woods double-bogeyed No. 11 after flying the green into the hazard on the Par 3 with his tee shot, and another bogey on No. 13 dropped him to 4-over for the day. After birdies on 15 and 16 — including a near ace on No. 16 — it looked as thought Woods might be able to salvage his day and get some positive swing thoughts heading into Sunday.
A birdie bid on No. 17 went begging and then he stepped to the 18th tee and hooked one way right into the hazard. Woods bogeyed the 18th, which was a minor miracle to limit the damage to just a bogey, to post a 74.
*Reported by CBSSport and ForTheWin