Monday Qualifiers: Valspar Championship

TULSA, Okla. – Tiger Woods produced the worst PGA Championship round of his storied career, battling away to a 9-over 79 on Saturday morning at Southern Hills. In cold, wet, and blustery conditions, Woods and his surgically repaired body could not muster the charge up the leaderboard he had hoped for, instead freefalling to near the back of the pack with just one round to play. It is yet to be seen if Woods will indeed return for Sunday’s final round, such is the vigorous recovery process he endures just to tee it up. He will juggle the pride of seeing a contest through to its conclusion over the wear and tear of a body that still hopes to take part in the U.S. Open in June and the 150th Open Championship at St. Andrews in July. “Well, I’m sore. I know that for a fact. We’ll do some work and see how it goes,” Woods said of the prospect of a final round appearance. On Saturday the 82-time PGA TOUR winning veteran had seven bogeys, a triple bogey and just a lone birdie marking the worst of his now 79 rounds at the PGA Championship, a major he’s claimed four times including in 2007 at Southern Hills. Woods eclipsed the 77 he shot in the opening round of the 2011 PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club as his low point in the tournament but did manage to keep under his worst major round of all-time – an 81 from the 2002 Open Championship. He made a 5-foot putt for par on the final hole to ensure his TOUR rounds in the 80s as a professional remain at just four. “I just didn’t play well. I didn’t hit the ball very well and got off to not the start I needed to get off to. I thought I hit a good tee shot down 2 and ended up in the water, and just never really got any kind of momentum on my side,” Woods lamented after finishing at 12-over for the tournament. “I couldn’t get off the bogey train there… I didn’t do anything right. I didn’t hit many good shots. Consequently, I ended up with a pretty high score.” The PGA Championship is just the second tournament of the year for the 15-time major winner as he continues his comeback from serious leg fractures suffered in a 2021 car accident. While Woods continues to compete to win, just making the cut in April’s Masters (47th place) and at Southern Hills this week is seen as a massive achievement by others, especially given the obvious pain he goes through to play. After an opening 74 Woods had showed great resilience to shoot 69 in round two. “Incredibly resilient and mentally tough,” playing partner from the opening two rounds Rory McIlroy said. “He’s feeling it… he’s feeling it on every swing… (but) he’s the ultimate pro.” “Looking at him yesterday, if that would have been me, I would have been considering pulling out and just going home, but Tiger is different and he’s proved he’s different… it was just a monumental effort.” Woods opened his third round with a nice 13-foot par save but lost his tee shot on the par-4 2nd hole into a creek that resulted in his first bogey. A run of three pars followed before disaster struck on the par-3 6th. After pulling his tee shot into another water hazard Woods missed the green from the drop zone and then failed to find the putting surface with his first chip. Unfortunately, the triple bogey was just a precursor of more to come. A bogey on the par-4 7th was followed by another on the par-4 9th when Woods hit the lip of the fairway bunker he was trying to escape and advanced the ball just four yards into the rough, leaving him with a 6-over 41 at the turn. Four straight bogeys on the back side of the course brought the specter of unwanted records into focus. But just as it appeared Woods would go without a birdie in a major championship round for the first time since the opener of the 2010 U.S. Open, the veteran poured in a 36-footer on the par-4 15th to give the hardy fans following a reason to cheer. Three pars to finish showed the fight hadn’t left the veteran despite the rough outing and he wasn’t alone as tricky winds saw others like Sepp Straka (79), Patton Kizzire (78), Maverick McNealy (78) and fellow former FedExCup champion Billy Horschel (77) also struggle.

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By making the transition Jack Nicklaus made when he tired of playing the robo-assassin to Arnold Palmer’s neighborly gunslinger, Tiger Woods has given the Masters gallery a chance to be part of something extra special.

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