7th June, 2015
Dublin (United States) (AFP) – Tiger Woods carded the worst round of his career Saturday, closing with a quadruple bogey eight on 18 for an 85 at the Memorial tournament.
The 14-time major champion ended his dismal front nine with back-to-back double bogeys before his game completely fell apart on the back nine, getting him to 13 over par on the day.
He finished three rounds at 12-over 228 and will likely tee off by himself in Sunday morning’s final round.
Woods needed a par on 18 to avert carding his worst round as a pro. His tee shot found the water and then he bungled two chip shots for an eight.
With the round still in progress, he was eight shots behind the next-worst score on the leaderboard.
Asked by PGA Tour officials if he was willing to give interviews Woods gave a one-word reply, “Nope”.
It was the second time this year that Woods has shot his career-worst PGA Tour round. His 82 at the Phoenix Open was his prior worst, and helped prompt him to step away from competition for nine weeks to work on his game.
It’s just the third time in his pro career that he’s shot in the 80s. He shot 81 in the third round of the British Open at Muirfield in horrible weather conditions.
The Memorial, the Jack Nicklaus-hosted event that Woods has won five times, is just his fifth tournament of the season, and his struggles at Muirfield Village come with the US Open just a fortnight away.
Woods, chasing Nicklaus’ record of 18 major titles, hasn’t won a major since the 2008 US Open at Torrey Pines. He hasn’t won a tournament since 2013, plunging to 172nd in the world.
Woods has struggled all week, saying he has yet to dial in the swing changes he’s still working on with instructor Chris Como.
He made the halfway cut right on the number on Friday — thanks to a testing six-foot par put at the final hole of the second round.
The solid putting he displayed on Friday, which helped make up for other lapses in his game, was nowhere to be seen on Saturday.
– Four balls in the water –
Despite his troubles, Woods has insisted all week he’s “committed” to staying the course and sticking with the changes he has started.
On Saturday he hit four balls in the water and had six bogeys and two double bogeys before his final-hole fiasco.
His third shot into the par-four 18th left him short, and his pitch was so short that it rolled back off the green.
Woods then tried to flop the ball over a bunker but instead found the sand. His shot out of the bunker sped past the hole and he two-putted for eight.
PGA Tour rookie Zac Blair had a close-up view of Woods’ disastrous day playing alongside the former world number one.
Blair, who as a youngster got Woods’s autograph at the 2000 PGA Championship, carded a 70 — beating Woods by nearly a stroke per hole.
“I’ve always wanted to play with him,” Blair said. “As a little kid that was kind of my dream growing up. But it was unfortunate to see him not play great.
“I thought he handled it great,” Blair added. “He never got super outwardly emotional.
“But I don’t think he ever got disrespectful out there. And he was always super courteous to me and friendly. It was nice to see that.”