Frustrating weekend for Tiger at The Barclays
Tiger Woods never got untracked Sunday in the final round of The Barclays at crusty and dusty Bethpage State Park in Farmingdale, N.Y., the first of four playoff tournaments for the FedExCup. He shot a 5-over-par 76 and tied for 38th, 11 strokes behind winner Nick Watney.
Woods carded six bogeys and one double-bogey during the long, hot day, and countered with only three birdies. Struggling in all parts of his game, he hit only 33 percent of the greens and 43 percent of the fairway and used 30 putts.
Paired with David Hearn, Tiger started out bogey-birdie-bogey-birdie-bogey. He managed to shoot an even-par 36 on the front side thanks to nifty scrambling, but clearly wasn’t sharp. Woods missed three putts inside 10 feet, including a 6 1/2 foot birdie attempt at the par-4 ninth hole.
After a two-putt par at No. 10 and a nice up-and-down for par at the par-4 11th, Woods double-bogeyed the par-4 12th, three-putting from 31 feet. His troubles continued at the par-5 13th, where he missed a seven-foot putt to save par.
He also bogeyed the 161-yard, par-3 14th, flying the green with an 8-iron into deep rough and was unable to get up-and-down, hitting a nice flop shot that slipped 16 feet past the cup.
Tiger stopped the bleeding with a par at the 15th, but even that wasn’t easy. He left his second shot 82 feet short of the hole and his birdie putt 10 feet shy of the cup, but was able to convert.
Woods bogeyed the par-4 16th, driving into the left rough. He punched a low second shot under a tree, but the ball carried through the green into thick rough and he could not save par.
Tiger two-putted the par-3 17th hole from about 30 feet, then made a nice up-and-down for par from the left-greenside bunker at the par-4 18th hole, sinking a five-foot putt.
While the greens weren’t as quick as Saturday, when 75 players combined for 74 three-putts, Woods three-putting four times for the first time in his pro career, they were still slick. Tournament officials wisely watered some of the putting surfaces to keep them playable.
Tiger resumes play in the second FedExCup playoff event next week in the Deutsche Bank Championship at TPC Boston in Norton, Ma. The tournament runs Friday through Monday.
