St Andrews (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Tiger Woods endured a miserable return to the British Open as the three-time champion laboured to a six-over-par 78 at St Andrews on Thursday to leave his chances of making the cut looking slim.
On a course where he has lifted the Claret Jug twice before, Woods' first appearance at a British Open since 2019 had been highly anticipated.
But the 15-time major winner's round never recovered from a double-bogey at the first after a poor approach shot found the water.
Woods missed the Open last year due to a car crash in February 2021 that left him requiring major surgery to his right leg.
The physical effects of that accident were evident as he hobbled around the course in a round lasting over six hours on a day marred by slow play.
"It was a long, slow day," said Woods.
"This was always on the calendar to hopefully be well enough to play it, and I am, I just didn't do a very good job of it."
Another double-bogey plus dropped shots at the third and fourth left the 46-year-old six-over through seven holes.
There were sparks of the old Woods in back-to-back birdies on the ninth and 10th to the delight of huge galleries following the American's every shot.
However, bogeys at 11, 13 and 16 on the back nine left him 14 shots behind leader Cameron Young after day one.
The top 70 players and ties make the cut after two rounds.
Only seven in the field shot a worse score than Woods in the first round, leaving one of the game's all-time greats down in 146th and needing a drastic turnaround on Friday to extend his tournament into the weekend.
"Looks like I'm going to have to shoot 66 tomorrow to have a chance," added Woods.
"Obviously, it has been done, guys did it today.That's my responsibility tomorrow is to go ahead and do it.I need to do it."
Thursday's score equalled Woods' worst opening-round score in 22 starts at the event which came at his most recent appearance at Portrush in 2019.
"Looking at it at the beginning of the year, end of last year, when I was rehabbing, trying to see if I could do it, somehow I was able to play two of the major championships in between then and now, which was great," added Woods.
