Time Is Not Right for Woods

The last round of the British Open became a time trial for Tiger Woods, who was put on the clock at the 12th hole when officials said he and Vijay Singh were playing too slowly.

Woods played the back nine in two over and said the timing issue bothered him.

“The final round on Sunday afternoon, you wouldn’t think we would be put on the clock. We were on the clock for four or five holes, which is unusual,” Woods said.

“When you’re on the clock, you’re not in your normal rhythm, that’s for sure. They were trying to get us to play in 3 hours 23 minutes. That’s pretty quick on Sunday.”

Meanwhile, the Tiger hunt continued at Royal St. George’s, where Woods again came up empty as he tried to bag what lately has become an elusive prize -- a major championship.

Woods shot a 71 Sunday and wound up tied for fourth with Davis Love III for the tournament at one-over total of 285, two shots behind Ben Curtis and one shot behind Thomas Bjorn and Singh.

He also wound up extending his winless streak in majors to five.

Woods said he had his chances, but made only one birdie on the back, at the par-five 14th.

“I had some good looks at putts on the back nine for birdie, especially at 12 and 13, back to back,” he said. “We were on the clock there. At 13, I hit a really good putt, but it didn’t go in. At 12, I pulled it a little bit.”

Woods made a bogey at 15 when he missed the green long with a seven-iron. He also bogeyed the 17th when he hit a six-iron into the wind, left it short of the green and couldn’t get it up and down.

Despite his putting problems on the back, Woods could have put himself in a playoff. He was one shot out of a playoff until he misjudged the wind and made the bogey at 17.

Woods said he didn’t know Bjorn had made double bogey until he was on the 17th green.

“I had a chance,” he said. “It’s one of those things. I was two under par there for a while and I put myself right where I needed to be and just didn’t quite make the putts and hit the proper shots.

“You’ve got to have things go your way in order to win. The times that I’ve won I’ve had some great breaks go my way. You need to have those good breaks. And this week, I got my share of good breaks, and also got my share of really bad ones too.”

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Back Down

*--* Tiger Woods played poorly on the back nine: ROUND: ONE TWO THREE FOUR TOTAL Front 9 +2 -2 -5 -2 -7 Back 9 E +3 +3 +2 +8

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