PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Florida, (Reuters) – Tiger Woods completed four rounds in back-to-back tournaments for the first time in 18 months but the former world number one will continue his drop in the rankings after the Players Championship.
Woods, who had plummeted to 125th on the world list before Florida tournament can at best hope to be 129th this week after an even-par 72 at TPC Sawgrass left him at three-over-par 291 yesterday.
“It was a mixed bag, pretty much all week,” Woods said.
“A lot of really, really good stuff out there, some mediocre and some bad. What did I have? Three sevens on the week. That’s not very good.
“That will get cleaned up over time but this golf course definitely exposes that,” he added. “You can be going along, playing fine, all of a sudden make a double here and it’s like, ‘What just happened.’”
The 14-time major winner showed both in his final round.
After trading a birdie and a bogey on the front nine, Woods rattled off three consecutive birdies to open the back side before a triple bogey seven on the 14th hole.
He hooked his tee shot into the water and later left a chip shot short.
The triple bogey was his first in the tournament, and it came a day after he notched two double bogeys on par fives for the first time in the same round.
He is headed for his worst finish in the PGA Tour’s flagship tournament, behind his tie for 39th in 2003. He withdrew twice, in 2010 and 2011.
“For the majority of the week, I hit my driver a lot better and definitely a lot further than I had been hitting it,” Woods said. “I just wasn’t as sharp with my irons. Normally I’m a pretty good iron player and I can get the ball in there tight. And I had a lot of clubs where I was 8-iron on down and I didn’t stiff them. That’s something I’ve got to do a little bit better.”
Woods is next due to play at the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village starting on June 7, then the U.S. Open at Chambers Bay in mid June.
“From what I hear, it’s a golf course we need to take a look at a few times,” he said.
