Tiger Woods pale shadow of former self at The Open

Barely had the tears dried and the emotions been choked back from Wednesday’s farewell to St Andrews by Arnold Palmer when it felt like you needed to start them all over again in Thursday’s opening round of the 144th Open Championship.

Was that Tiger Woods bidding goodbye as a serious competitor in the grandest tournament of them all?

Surely, the one-time icon, he of the two Claret Jugs won right here at the Old Course, is a shell of his once invincible self and hardly did he inspire anyone in attendance to think that a return to St Andrews had rejuvenated him.

More likely he never will be.

Out in 40 when everyone around him in the morning wave was peppering the Old Course?

Hitting his approach, a mere 100-yard wedge, at the first into the burn?

Matching par on the homeward nine to shoot a round of 76, when he had played his previous 12 Open rounds at the Old Course in 36-under?

Going around with just one birdie when his two playing competitors, Jason Day and former Open champion Louis Oosthuizen had six each?

Sad, all of it, and had it been just one bad day it could be excused; but the painful truth is, it’s become a trend.

In the last four rounds of major championship golf — round four at Augusta National when he had a chance at the Masters, his two at the US Open, and yesterday — he is now 21 over par. That wouldn’t be shocking if almost any other pro golfer was being mentioned, but Woods is not any other golfer; he is a man who built his legend on major championships and now, sadly, it appears time to suggest that he either needs a break or a complete overhaul of whatever thought process has carried him the last two years.

Poor as the play has been, what makes it worse is that Woods doesn’t even seem angered by it. “Discouraging,” is a word he did use as he addressed the media afterward, but it wasn’t like he walked off the 18th green and stormed away.

Instead, it felt as if he had become resigned to this stretch of sloppy and unsettled golf, for it goes back a while. He hasn’t won a major championship since 2008 and with every passing day, it seems that Woods not only won’t match Jack Nicklaus’ mark of 18 majors, but he’s not likely to move off of the 14 he has.

But he also hasn’t won a tournament of any flavour since the fall of 2013 and in the meantime, he continues to talk silliness — that he’s “in a process,” and making “baseline shifts,” and working on a new “release pattern,” and, of course, the Hall of Fame quote of the season, that day in February when his “glutes didn’t activate”. What?

It’s as if Woods has lost his old blueprint. Used to be he sneered at everyone, then went out and kicked their butts like he owned the game. Now he strives to show everyone that he’s smarter than them.

To sit joint 142nd after having played 18 holes in benign morning conditions is inexplicable. To beat just 10 players at a course where he once played his first nine professional rounds in red numbers is dumbfounding.

Worst of all, his insistence that he “fought hard” on his inward nine sounded hollow, especially with Day coming home in 33, Oosthuizen in 34. What it sounded like was acceptance, that he knows he is confused by so many tweaks and changes to his golf swing that he is unsure of himself and lacking the necessary spirit to continue the fight.

“Motivation has never been a problem with me,” Woods said, as if to reject the notion that he is not as driven as he once was. Yet he reportedly didn’t play practice rounds at the Old Course after Monday, which is curious, at best.

At worst, it proves the point.

The Open:        Tee Times

SECOND ROUND

06.32am:

J Van Zyl (Rsa), M Calcavecchia (USA), M Siem (Ger)

06.43am:

J Blixt (Swe), T Aiken (Rsa), D Lipsky (USA)

06.54am:

D Lee (Nzl), M Hoffmann (USA), S Kjeldsen (Den)

07.05am:

R Ramsay, C Tringale (USA), P Larrazabal (Spa)

07.16am:

S Bowditch (Aus), H Iwata (Jpn), B Martin (USA)

07.27am:

A Lahiri (Ind), G Coetzee (Rsa), R Cabrera-Bello (Spa)

07.38am:

M Warren, L Wen-Chong (Chn), P HARRINGTON

07.49am:

J Daly (USA), J Dufner (USA), MA Jimenez (Spa) 08am: Z Johnson (USA), B Wiesberger (Aut), T Fleetwood

08.11am:

D Willett, G Woodland (USA), T Jaidee (Tha)

08.22am:

B Haas (USA), G Ogilvy (Aus), F Molinari (Ita)

08.33am:

(a) G Yang (Kor), M O’Meara (USA), R Henley (USA)

08.44am:

T Lehman (USA), B Langer (Ger), J Leonard (USA)

09am:

H Fujita (Jpn), S Gallacher, R Moore (USA)

09.11am:

M Kaymer (Ger), J Walker (USA), A Scott (Aus)

09.22am:

Y Ikeda (Jpn), J Donaldson, K Bradley (USA)

09.33am:

M Kuchar (USA), P Mickelson (USA), H Stenson (Swe)

09.44am:

J Rose, N Faldo, R Fowler (USA)

09.55am:

J Furyk (USA), B Grace (Rsa), P Casey

10.06am:

A Sullivan, (x) A Chesters, H English (USA)

10.17am:

M Leishman (Aus), K Oda (Jpn), K Aphibarnrat (Tha)

10.28am:

J Morrison, E Molinari (Ita), R Wattel (Fra)

10.39am:

P Edberg (Swe), D Berger (USA), M Young

10.50am:

T Gillis (USA), B Rumford (Aus), B Taylor

11.01am:

S Strange (Aus), A Balcombe, M Fraser (Aus)

11.12am:

R Dinwiddie, R Karlberg (Swe), T Teshima (Jpn)

11.33am:

T Bjorn (Den), R Pampling (Aus), G Owen

11.44am:

(x) P DUNNE

, T Hamilton (USA), J Hahn (USA)

11.55am:

B Harman (USA), G Delaet (Can), R Knox

12.06pm:

M Every (USA), A Levy (Fra), D Lingmerth (Swe)

12.17pm:

J Luiten (Ned), M Jones (Aus), R Streb (USA)

12.28pm:

B-Hun An (Kor), A Wall, (x) J Niebrugge (USA)

12.39pm:

S Lyle, C Hoffman (USA), K Na (USA)

12.50pm:

K Streelman (USA), R Goosen (Rsa), S LOWRY

1.01pm:

L Donald, C Pettersson (Swe), H Mahan (USA)

1.12pm:

V Dubuisson (Fra), R Fisher, B Horschel (USA)

1.23pm:

(x) O Schniederjans (USA), G McDOWELL,

W Simpson (USA)

1.34pm:

E Els (Rsa), T Watson (USA), B Snedeker (USA)

1.45pm:

B Todd (USA), J.B. Holmes (USA), S Tomimura (Jpn)

2.01pm:

C Schwartzel (Rsa), I Poulter, B Watson (USA)

2.12pm:

S Garcia (Spa), P Reed (USA), L Westwood

2.23pm:

D CLARKE

, M Manassero (Ita), (x) R Langasque (Fra)

2.34pm:

D Johnson (USA), H Matsuyama (Jpn), J Spieth (USA)

2.45pm:

P Lawrie, R Palmer (USA), K Kisner (USA)

2.56pm:

T Woods (USA), J Day (Aus), L Oosthuizen (Rsa)

3.07pm:

J Senden (Aus), T Takayama (Jpn), B Koepka (USA)

3.18pm:

D Duval (USA), S Cink (USA), B Curtis (USA)

3.29pm:

M Ilonen (Fin), D Howell, G Chalmers (Aus)

3.40pm:

E Pepperell, D Hearn (Can), R Jacquelin (Fra)

3.51pm:

T Hatton, S Arnold (Aus), (x) P Kinnear

4.02pm:

A Bland (Aus), G Boyd, D Brooks

4.13pm:

S Hend (Aus), J Moore (USA), R Fox (Nzl)

x denotes amateurs. All times Irish.