But this was no British Open winning streak. It was the end of one of Woods’ worst rounds in a major: a six-over 78 that was a stark reminder of how much water has flowed under the Swilcan Bridge since his days of dominance at St. Andrews. Woods, who won the Open Championship here in 2000 and 2005, reacquainted himself with the water in a hurry on his return on Thursday. After receiving the loudest ovation of the day from the crowd gathered on the first hole, he hit his tee shot into a normally safe area (“perfect shot,” he said) only to land a new putt that overturned his approach shot to green on an adventure. “I told myself, ‘Don’t hit it straight and don’t stab it,’” Woods said. “I didn’t do either, but I still hit it on the burn.” A burn in Scots is a ditch filled with water, and the ditch in this case was the Swilcan Burn which defends the first green. Woods’ shot dropped after a bounce, and he ended up missing a short putt to start his tournament with a double bogey. As the omens say, he was accurate as he continued to battle the wind, birdying the third and fourth holes and making another double bogey at the par-4 seventh before making his first birdies of the round at the par-4 ninth and par-4 tithe. But this was a false dawn as he continued to leave important chips and putts well short of their targets. Asked what was most frustrating, Woods didn’t hesitate. “I think just the overall score,” he said. “I feel like I didn’t do too badly. Yes, I had bad speed on the green, but I didn’t feel like I hit it that bad. But I ended up in bad places or just some weird things happened. And that’s exactly how it goes. Links golf is like that, and this golf course is like that. And like I said, I had my chances to turn it around and do it the right way, and I didn’t.” He certainly didn’t, and it will take an impressive round and recovery on Friday to even make it to the top 70 golfers. “Looks like I’ll have to shoot 66 tomorrow to have a chance,” he said. “Obviously it has. The guys did it today, and that’s my responsibility tomorrow, is to go ahead and do it.” He is already 14 shots behind the leader, 25-year-old American Cameron Young, who shot an eight-under 64 in the opening round of the tournament in St. Andrews, having first played the Old Course during a visit to Scotland with the family when he was 13 years old. Woods first came here in his teens, too, playing in the 1995 Open Championship as a 19-year-old amateur still getting to grips with the quirks and charms of links golf. He made the cut on his debut but faded to score a final-round 78: his worst round at St. Andrews until Thursday. But Woods learned quickly, and when he returned to the Old Course in 2000, he was playing some of the best golf he had ever played and completed his career Grand Slam with an eight-shot victory that was even more remarkable than anyone, including his opponents. , expected to dominate. He did it, never hitting a bunker and setting a record for a major by finishing at 19 under par. He delivered again in 2005 when the Open returned to St. Andrews as he won by five shots and then followed that up by winning the 2006 Open at Royal Liverpool in drought conditions that turned the fairways into fast running fairways. He responded by using irons off the tee for control and held it nicely until finishing off the win and crying on the shoulder of his official, Steve Williams, overcome by his feelings for his father, Earl, who had died just weeks before tournament. Sixteen years later, Woods remains golf’s biggest star, even as a part-time competitor, still struggling to get back into shape after a February 2021 car accident that left him with serious injuries and doctors considering amputation his right leg. The return to St. Andrews was one of his main motivations when he chose to restart his career, making a late decision to take part in this year’s Masters, where he shot an opening round 71 before fading to 47th. He then played in the PGA Championship in May, withdrawing in pain before the final round after shooting a 79. He opted out of the US Open with an eye on being ready for the St. Andrews. Thursday was his first competitive round in nearly two months, and he looked and felt stronger, limping only slightly, if at all, for much of the afternoon. “Yeah, it was a lot easier today, physically, than the other two events, for sure,” Woods said. Although the Old Course is not the most demanding course with its relatively flat layout, the round turned into a test of endurance, lasting just over six hours due to course backups that challenged Woods and his players Max Homa and Matt Fitzpatrick, US Open Champion, has to wait repeatedly. Homa, an American who finally accomplished a career goal by playing a round with Woods, made the most of the overtime, chatting at length with Woods, who actually looked less gloomy on the back nine than he did on the front nine. “If there was anyone else on my team, if it was probably just Matt, I would be complaining all day,” he said, adding that it was the “coolest” day he’s ever had on a golf course. “It was a day that came true, minus a little bit of golf,” Homa said. “It really felt like a fantasy.” Woods may have chosen the nightmare, but he made sound content that he had managed to get healthy enough to play “Very, very important,” he said of his return to St Andrews. Woods added, “This has always been on the calendar to hopefully be good enough to play. And I am. I just didn’t do a very good job at it.” But Woods, even down to 46, still has the ability to make bumps. You could see and hear it all afternoon—and there was plenty of time to see and hear it—as he navigated the Old Course and fans lined up, often four rows deep behind the ropes with their cell phones aloft. to photograph him, even at a distance. Many of them were parents with children too young to have watched Woods at his best. Some held stuffed tigers. “They were fantastic, absolutely fantastic,” Woods said of the gallery. “So supportive.” But the shocking truth is that the Woods so many roared about were the Woods they remembered, not the Woods they watched. For now, he’s what he never wanted to be: a ceremonial golfer, a big star but no longer a big threat, walking the same fairways and greens but no longer making the same birdies and eagles. As he made his way over the Swilcan Bridge and onto the 18th hole late Thursday after a tiring and deflated day, a woman on a third-story balcony overlooking the course summed up the mood and the reality as she screamed from above: “ Tiger !!!!! 20000!!!! 2005!!!!!”
