Tiger Woods struggles in opening round of 2024 British Open

TROON: Golfing legend Tiger Woods faced a challenging start to the 2024 British Open, carding an 8-over par 79 in the opening round at Royal Troon.

Tiger Woods started well by getting a birdie on the 3rd hole, putting him one stroke under par and near the top of the leaderboard. But then he struggled, playing the next six holes poorly and ending up five strokes over par for that stretch. This included a double-bogey on the fifth hole, which really hurt his score after his good start.

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In the second half of his round, Tiger Woods didn’t perform much better. He scored 3 strokes over the expected score (par) for those nine holes, totaling 39 strokes.

This brought his total for the day to 79 strokes. His 32 putts throughout the round were more than what most players typically need, a clear indication of the tough time he is experiencing on the putting greens.

Despite having won over 15 major championships, Woods is facing a troubling trend in his recent performances. Specifically, he has been having difficulty in both making the cut (qualifying to play all rounds of a tournament) and competing strongly in major golf championships, except for the Masters tournament held at Augusta National Golf Club.

Since the 2019 PGA Championship, Tiger Woods has faced difficulties maintaining his competitive form across major golf tournaments outside of the Masters, often struggling to make the cut and play through the entire weekend.

After finishing his round, Tiger Woods admitted that he might have been overly optimistic about his readiness to compete in more events earlier in the season. He indicated that he needs to focus on improving his physical condition through more gym work to continue progressing.

Despite Tiger Woods’ disappointing performance in the round, his fans showed unwavering support. They cheered as he walked up the 18th fairway.

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In order for Tiger Woods to continue playing in the tournament over the weekend and have a chance to compete for the Claret Jug (the trophy awarded to the winner of The Open Championship), he needs to score significantly better in the second round.

The projected cut line, which marks the score above which players do not qualify for the weekend rounds, is expected to be around 5 or 6 strokes over par.