U.S. Open: Tiger Woods opens with a triple-bogey first hole

Tiger Woods hasn’t won a U.S. Open since 2008, hasn’t placed in the top 10 since 2010, hasn’t made a cut since 2013, and hasn’t even played since 2015. And on his very first hole at the 118th U.S. Open, he looked like he was every bit as rusty as that record would indicate.

What went wrong?

Woods teed off well enough, striping his tee shot to within 150 yards of the hole. And although he couldn’t know it at the time, that was where his problems began:

Woods ever-so-slightly overpowered his approach shot; it hit the peak of the glass-slick green and slid all the way down the back slope, all the way into the the drop zone. His first attempt to get up-and-down for a par rolled right back down the hill, and once he finally did get on the green, he slid his short double-bogey putt past the hole.

Final result: Three-over. After just one hole.

So is Woods pretty much screwed?

Oh, of course not! He’ll be fine! (whispering: He’s toast.)

Woods doesn’t have the greatest record kicking off U.S. Opens; he’s +15 in his last 23 opening rounds at this particular tournament. And he’s playing at a location, Shinnecock Hills, whose wind and greens absolutely decimated the field earlier in the day. Combine those two facts with the above ugly start — he bogeyed the second hole to drop to +4 — and this could be a rocky major for Woods.

Follow along with the rest of Woods’ round right here, though fair warning: this could be disturbing for small children.

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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter or on Facebook.

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