Tiger Woods struggles to a 76 in return at Torrey Pines; Justin Rose leads at 65
Tiger Woods walked onto the first tee Thursday at Torrey Pines Golf Course for his first official tournament appearance in 523 days, and for a moment it was almost as though he had never left.
Probably 1,000 fans encircled the area, some even watching from the back side of the bleachers at the adjacent 18th hole, with probably another 1,000 or so down the fairway and around the green. Hundreds of them aimed camera phones in his direction. They cheered as he appeared, and cheered some more as he was announced.
“The turnout was unbelievable,” said one of Woods’ playing partners, world No. 1 Jason Day. “It was pretty impressive to watch. That’s kind of the old-school days of Tiger Woods when he was dominating at his best.”
Unfortunately for Woods and his fans, the similarities pretty much ended there. Woods failed to make a birdie on the front nine of the difficult South Course, and just when it looked like he might be rallying, with birdies at 10 and 11, his round completely fell apart.
Starting at the 12th hole, Woods lost six shots to par in six holes, with three straight bogeys, a double bogey and then, after a par, another bogey. Even a birdie at the 18th could salvage only a four-over 76 as he finished the first round of the Farmers Insurance Open tied for 133rd place. It was the worst opening round to a calendar year in his career.
The leader after the first day under sunny but cool conditions was Justin Rose, the Olympic gold medalist, who played the par-five holes in six under en route to a seven-under 65 on the easier North Course. Adam Hadwin, who shot a 59 last week at La Quinta, was second after a 66 on the South. Five others were tied for third at 67, with only Hadwin’s fellow Canadian, Brad Fritsch, playing the South.
Woods, meanwhile, was in trouble from the beginning. He slammed his first drive 283 yards, but it landed in the wet rough just past the bunker on the right side of the fairway.
“The very first hole,” he said, “we’ve got a ball that’s sitting into the grain. Not only was it into the grain but it was buried underneath there and it was going from left to right, which [was] the path I needed to take. So I’m like, ‘OK, this is the very first hole. Let’s not do this anymore.’
“Unfortunately I did it most of the day.”
Woods — playing with a surgically repaired back after being absent for 17 months — missed 10 of 14 fairways (including all seven on the back nine) and half the 18 greens, and nearly every miss was to the right. On the par-four fifth hole, hitting from the middle of the fairway, his approach was so off target (missing by at least 20 yards) that a spectator immediately cried out, “Nope … nope … that’s horrible. What is he doing?”
And yet, after a bogey at the first hole, he managed eight straight pars and the birdies at 10 and 11.
“I was fighting out there trying to get my ball around the golf course and score,” he said. “And I had it to one under par there through 11. I was in good shape … and it went the other way.”
His biggest miss actually was to the left on 15, where he hooked it into a ravine and made double bogey. He missed a five-foot par putt at 17 but ended the day with a smile for the fans after rolling in a nine-foot birdie putt at 18.
His playing partners, Day and Dustin Johnson, also birdied 18 after struggling most of the day. Johnson finished at even-par 72, one shot better than Day. The threesome will play the easier North on Friday, although windy conditions are expected.
At the other end of the leaderboard were Rose and Hadwin.
Rose started on the 10th hole and birdied both par-five holes on his first nine — then topped that on his second nine by making eagle on both. The final one, on his last hole, jumped him past Hadwin and into the lead.
“Obviously a very sweet way to finish,” he said.
Hadwin, conversely, had a six-foot putt on 18 for a 65 but missed it. Still, he couldn’t help but be satisfied with his round.
“I don’t want to say it was as good as a 59,” he said, “but it was pretty darn good.”
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