Tiger cards 6-over 76 in third round of U.S. Open
A day that started with promise quickly disintegrated for Tiger Woods on Saturday in the third round of the 113th U.S. Open at Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pa. He birdied the par-4 first hole but couldn’t produce another, slipping to a 6-over-par 76, his highest-ever third round score in the tournament.
Tiger has a 54-hole score of 9-over 219 and is tied for 31st. Phil Mickelson leads the tournament at 1-under 209.
Seldom showing emotion, seemingly nothing went right for Woods, who is battling a sore left elbow. He bogeyed three of the first six holes and played the last 17 holes in 7-over. Those are not the kind of numbers you would expect from the top-ranked Woods, a three-time U.S. Open champion and four-time winner on the PGA TOUR this year.
“It is certainly frustrating because I certainly was feeling like I was playing well this week and I just didn’t make the putts I needed to make,” Woods said.
Grouped with Rory McIlroy for the third straight day and with Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño of Spain, Tiger rolled in a slippery left-to-right putt at the 342-yard first hole, the ball breaking nearly three feet. But there wasn’t much to smile about after that.
Tiger parred No. 2, then bogeyed the 245-yard, par-3 third. He came up short with a 3-iron, chipped to eight feet and missed the putt. Following a par at No. 4, Tiger caught a bad break at the 510-yard, par-4 fifth, where he piped a drive down the center of the fairway but had his ball roll into a ball mark.
Woods came up short of the green with his second shot and elected to putt up a steep hill, leaving the ball eight feet short of the cup. He failed to convert his par attempt.
At the difficult 477-yard, par-4 sixth, Tiger drove into the right rough, then muscled his second shot short-left of the putting surface. Forced to play over a knob on the left, he semi-chunked his chip, the ball rolling backward, then two-putted for a bogey.
Woods gave himself a good birdie look at the 363-yard, par-4 seventh, but missed a 15-foot putt. He missed from similar range at the 351-yard, par-4 eighth, then two-putted the par-3 ninth from about 30 feet for a par to make the turn in 2-over 38.
On the back nine, Tiger got off to a poor start by three-putting the 280-yard, par-4 10th hole — the easiest hole on the course — for a bogey. Woods missed a makeable 15-foot birdie try at the short par-4 11th, then bogeyed the par-4 12th. At No. 12, he hit a bad sand wedge from 60 yards to about 40 feet short of the pin and two-putted.
After a two-putt par at No. 13, Tiger made a nice up-and-down for par from just short of the green at the par-4 14th. Woods two-putted the par-4 15th for a par from 25 feet, then bogeyed the 446-yard, par-4 16th, lipping out a three-foot putt.
At the 254-yard, par-3 17th, Tiger carved a beautiful 5-wood into the center of the green and two-putted for a par. But he closed with a bogey at the 530-yard, par-4 18th, the most difficult hole on the course. After a good drive, he came up short of the green with his second shot, then hit a nice sand wedge out of deep rough. But the ball slid 10 feet past the cup and he missed to shoot a 4-over 38 on the side.
Previously, Woods’ highest third-round score in a U.S. Open was 75. He recorded that score in 2002 at Bethpage and last year at the Olympic Club.
Woods has struggled with his short game all week, especially on the greens. He had 36 putts on Saturday and has used 96 in the tournament.
“I didn’t make anything today,” Tiger said. “I just couldn’t get a feel for them, some putts were slow, some were fast and I had a tough time getting my speed right.”
Tiger begins fourth-round play on Sunday at 12:02 p.m. ET with Matt Bettencourt.
