Tulsa, Akla. – Tiger Woods had reason to wonder whether it is worth it to win the PGA Championship.
One day after a series of blows with grip and sorcery in short games allowed Woods to go out for the weekend in the Southern Hills, his third round ended with another milestone.
He made a 5-foot nominal shot to break 80.
“I didn’t do anything right,” Woods said after signing for 9 over 79, with two strokes of his worst result in the PGA Championship. “I haven’t had a lot of good throws. As a result, I got a pretty high score. “
It wasn’t his worst specialty. There was that 81 at the British Open in 2002 in the fierce wind and fierce frost of Murfield, which dashed his hopes for the Grand Slam. He had 80 points at Chambers Bay at the 2015 U.S. Open during his recovery from the first of five back surgeries.
It was painful to watch, not just a sloppy game with wedges and two water balls.
Just like the weekend at the Masters, his first competition since a car crash in February 2021 that injured his right leg, limping became more pronounced over the course of the day.
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And the weather – the high 50s compared to the heat index, which at the beginning of the week approached three-digit numbers – did not help.
“You’re so sorry he had to go through that,” said Sean Norris, a South African who played with Woods in front of a large gallery, but certainly not like the previous two days.
“But then again, you also see what kind of person he is, that he rubs everything and pushes himself, even all the pain and that,” Norris said. “It’s not easy to see that a guy like him has to go through this and fight like that. He is holding it well and I think he will return as soon as he returns to normal health and is solved with all the problems. ”
Woods decided not to talk to the media, instead offering a few thoughts to the pool reporter. He did not get into one of the obvious problems – distance control. Whether the ball didn’t fly that far because of the cold, or its speed was less than he realized, there were two instances where Woods was stunned to see where his ball landed.
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One was on the sixth hole of Par-3 when Woods ’shot not only proved short but also found water. The next shot he hit the shaggy collar, waved the chip and left with a triple bullet.
And that was just the beginning.
Woods made five straight scarecrows from the ninth hole. One of them was on par-3 11th when he posed over 8-iron just to see how he landed nearby. He looked back at his caddy and said, “That’s a little bunker!”
His step up the hill was so high that he ran across the green and down the slope and he had to walk 4 feet to escape with a whip. It was one hole after a similar step up the hill, a little further, settled on the top shelf of a green field. The hairpin was in front.
And then on par-5 13th, when a daring game to drive through the green from the first cut and in a strong wind seemed to pay off, his step from 100 feet passed 35 feet past the skittles and came out of the green. The probable bird turned into a stuffed animal.
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“Couldn’t get off the whip train,” he said.
Even though it looked like a lost cause, and there were times when it seemed like his right knee was starting to bend, Woods rarely threw a punch or punch.
The only bright spot was the 35-foot bird of the 15th, and Woods made him smile by swiping the index finger of his right hand in the air to mark his first bird of the day.
It was also his only one.
Three pairs, including a 5-footer on the latter, gave him 79 and a position at the bottom of the leaderboard, as well as another early start on Sunday.
This is provided that he appears, of course. From the beginning, Woods moved cautiously, and Saturday was the most pronounced. On Friday, he spoke of the need for a hot round, and on a cold day it was not available to him.
He was asked if he was forced to question the process required to play and whether he would play on Sunday.
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“Well, it hurts me. I know it is true, ”he said. “We’ll work and see how it goes.”
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