Tiger Woods couldn’t find a fairway to save his life, hitting just four in his opening round at Torrey Pines, en route to a first-round 76. He placed the blame in an interesting spot.
Woody had plenty to say after his round, and apparently much of the blame for why he air-mailed nearly all of his drives wide right fell on the pace of the round.
Pace of play has been a big issue on the PGA TOUR in recent years, a factor that was driven home by Jason Day’s comments earlier this year.
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Tiger Woods, Dustin Johnson, and Jason Day made it around Torrey Pines in five hours and 20 minutes, which is a long ass time, to be sure.
“It was weird waiting that much. I’m not used to doing that at home where I guess we’re kind of flying a little quicker than this. It was just a different rhythm,” Woods said.
Yeah. I’d assume zipping around for nine holes in a cart at the Bear’s Club is a little slower pace than a competitive event on one of the most difficult courses on the PGA Tour.
“So much is different. Playing in slower conditions, it’s much softer than at home, it’s much cooler than at home – I’m just trying to get used to this.”
Now, I know Woods hasn’t played a competitive round since 2015. But really, there’s no muscle memory there from, say, winning 79 times on the PGA Tour?
And waiting on the tee…did that make you swing like a grandpa who couldn’t get his right side through the ball, bailed out of the swing and missed wide right off the tee? If anything, extra time on the tee ought to give a golfer plenty of time to stretch out sufficiently, even amid the cool coastal climate.
Woods has serious trouble off the tee and needs to go back to the drawing board to find a solution. This is the bottom line based on what we saw at the Hero World Challenge and what we’ve seen thus far at Torrey Pines. Suggesting that the pace of play was in some way responsible? T Dubbs, you’re better than that.
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