PGA Championship: Tiger Woods blames putting after struggling to a 75

Former world number one Tiger Woods blamed his putting after struggling to an opening round of 75 in the US PGA Championship yesterday.

Woods, who missed consecutive cuts in major championships for the first time in his career in the US Open and Open Championship, faces a battle to avoid another early exit after carding five bogeys and two birdies at Whistling Straits.

“I hit it great today, but I made actually nothing,” the 14-time major winner said. “Probably one of the worst putting rounds I’ve had in a very long time. But I hit it good today, so that’s about it.

“I just had no feel at all for the speed (on the greens). It was awful. My speed was bad, hence speed determines line, so that was off. I either left them short or blew them by. Just didn’t have the speed at all.

“I kept with the game plan, I struck it the way I wanted to pretty much all day, and I just never got a putt, I don’t think I made one putt all day.

“Good news is I had complete control of the golf ball – even with these conditions as they got tougher, I was able to control it.” At 186th in the FedEx Cup standings, Woods needs to finish second or better at Whistling Straits to jump into the top 125 and be eligible for the first play-off event in a fortnight’s time, having currently not entered next week’s final qualifying event.

“The season is pretty much over very soon,” the 39-year-old added. “But the year’s not.

“I still can do things overseas, our next (PGA Tour) season is starting up, I have my tournament down in the Bahamas. There’s plenty of golf to be played globally. The season, it is what it is, but calendar year I still have a lot of golf left.”