Tiger Woods has conceded he has areas to enhance to keep away from back-to-back main missed cuts after failing to construct on an encouraging begin to the US Open at Pinehurst No 2.
Woods was unable to construct on a quick begin to the third main of yr, the place he was below par after six holes earlier than 5 bogeys in a seven-hole stretch noticed him slip to a four-over 74.
The 15-time main champion is making his simply his third look of the season and has solely accomplished all 4 rounds of a event 4 instances since November 2020, and he acknowledged a scarcity of sharpness after falling 9 strokes behind early chief Patrick Cantlay.
“I didn’t hit my irons particularly well,” Woods admitted after his spherical. “Didn’t putt that great. Drove it on the string all day, just unfortunately I just didn’t capitalise on it.
“I used to be considerably conservative in a few of my finish factors. Then once more, I did not hit the ball very nicely both, so it added as much as fairly a little bit of distance away from the flag. It is not the place I needed to be on a variety of the holes. It simply ended up being that far-off as a result of I wasn’t as sharp as I wanted to be.”
Tiger Woods combined two birdies with six bogeys throughout his opening spherical at Pinehurst No 2
Woods predicted pre-tournament that the occasion may very well be a “war of attrition”, given the challenges round Pinehurst’s “turtleback” greens, though the 48-year-old put his sluggish begin all the way down to errors fairly than health points.
“I’m physically getting better as the year has gone on,” mentioned Woods, who completed final of those that made the lower at The Masters earlier than making an early exit at Valhalla final month. “I simply have not been capable of play as a lot as a result of I simply do not need to damage myself pre (majors), then I will not have the ability to play within the main championships.
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Wayne Riley demonstrates how exhausting the greens are going to be on the 2024 US Open at Pinehurst Resort.
“It’s pick your poison, right? Play a lot with the potential of not playing, or not playing and fight being not as sharp.”
Woods struggles with Pinehurst take a look at
Starting on the again 9 alongside Will Zalatoris and 2022 US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick, Woods acquired off to the proper begin when he rolled in from 12 ft on the par-five tenth after which two-putted from distance to avoid wasting par on the subsequent.
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Tiger Woods began his US Open marketing campaign with a birdie on his first gap, the par-five tenth at Pinehurst No 2.
He remained bogey free when he holed from 10 ft on the twelfth and scrambled one other par from the same distance on the subsequent, then missed a birdie likelihood from 10 ft on the 14th that might have moved him right into a share of the lead.
Woods was a part of a logjam tied on the prime after a par on the fifteenth however noticed his bogey run begin when he needed to pitch out of the tough following a wayward drive on the sixteenth, and he then three-putted from lengthy vary on the par-three seventeenth.
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The flip was reached in 36, the identical whole Woods recorded throughout the opening rounds of each earlier US Opens at Pinehurst, just for him to lose additional floor with a three-putt on the first and a failure to get up-and-down from off the inexperienced on the subsequent.
Issues worsened when he missed from inside 5 ft to avoid wasting par on the fourth, having produced a miraculous restoration from the tough, though he bounced again to two-putt from 30 ft on the par-five subsequent to card a primary birdie for the reason that opening gap.
Woods holed from 9 ft to avoid wasting par on the sixth and supplied a giant fist pump after rolling in from 15 ft to keep away from dropping a shot on the par-four subsequent, however he bogeyed the eighth and signed off a irritating day by scrambling a par on his remaining gap.
Tiger Woods is chasing an unlikely fourth US Open victory and sixteenth main title
“My speed was not quite there,” Woods added. “I think I three-putted – what? – two or three times today. If I clean that up, if I get a couple iron shots not as loose as I did, I’m right there at even par.
“It could actually go up to now the opposite method right here, the fallacious method. It is simply so exhausting to get again. This can be a golf course that does not surrender a complete lot of birdies. It provides up a variety of bogeys and better. I assumed I did the one factor I wanted to do right this moment, which is drive the ball nicely. I did that, I simply did not capitalise on any of it.”
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