Tiger Woods is in danger of starting a bad habit: Spending his weekends at home.
Woods is one bad round away from unthinkable back-to-back missed cuts.
If he doesn’t find his game Friday morning at Cog Hill, the player who holds the record with 142 consecutive cuts made will be headed out of town Friday afternoon.
On a day when Phil Mickelson bounced back from his U.S. Open disaster, and 66 was a popular number on the leaderboard at the Cialis Western Open, Woods struggled with an opening-round 72 Thursday. At 1 over, Woods sits in a tie for 82nd, one shot off the cut line at the end of the day.
After missing the cut at the U.S. Open, his first as a pro in a major, Woods carries a sense of urgency into Friday’s round.
“I’m trying to get some rounds under my belt,” Woods said. “Hopefully, this week will be four rounds.”
Woods failed to take advantage of good scoring conditions that resulted in Joe Ogilvie, Lucas Glover, Daniel Chopra and David McKenzie sharing the first-round lead at 5-under 66. A group of six players at 67 included Mickelson, Vijay Singh and Davis Love III.
Woods, meanwhile, made only two birdies. A bizarre bogey on the par-5 15th typified a frustrating day.
Woods hit his drive way right into the trees. Thinking the ball could be lost, he immediately reached out to caddie Steve Williams for another ball. After he hit his provisional drive, Woods’ first ball was found, but he didn’t have a shot. That negated his provisional ball, forcing him to declare an unplayable lie and return to hit three off the tee.
It wasn’t the kind of round Woods wanted in his first action since posting a pair of 76s at Winged Foot.
“I hit a lot of beautiful putts that didn’t go in early and didn’t have any control of my irons today,” Woods said. “My distance control wasn’t very good, my direction wasn’t very good. I hit the driver halfway decent today. I just didn’t take advantage of my irons when I had the opportunity.”
Woods went straight to the range after his round ended at 6 p.m., saying he had plenty of daylight left to fix the problem with his release.
“I know what it is,” Woods said. “I just have a hard time doing it in competition. Welcome to golf.”
Woods’ chief rival, Mickelson, looks as if he was able to fix the problems with his driver that plagued him at Winged Foot. He hit 9 of 14 fairways. He even reached for the big club on the narrow 384-yard par-4 eighth, normally a fairway-wood hole for most players. He poked it out about 340 yards.
“I don’t think the round he previously played ever stopped him from stepping up and ripping a driver,” playing partner Jeff Sluman said.
Mickelson’s confidence appears to be back–not that it ever left him.
“I didn’t feel like I played very well a couple of weeks ago,” Mickelson said of the Open. “I haven’t really struck it the way I wanted to since the Masters. This last week, I really started to get tuned in and hit it much better.”
Mickelson’s swing coach, Rick Smith, was impressed with the round. For two weeks, Mickelson has lived with his fatal double bogey on 18, which cost him the tournament.
“That’s how to come back,” Smith said. “You get back on the horse and go right at it. I’m proud of what he did today. Things are starting to click for him.”
As usual, the big names received most of the attention Thursday. Meanwhile, the lesser-known names shared the lead.
The four players at the top have only one PGA Tour victory between them (Glover won the Funai Classic last October). McKenzie, a 38-year-old from Australia, technically is a rookie on the PGA Tour.
Each of the four leaders has had his share of struggles this year. For Ogilvie, it had been his putting. Thursday it finally came together for him.
“If you’re not putting well, I think it puts a little more pressure on the rest of your game,” Ogilvie said. “I’ve certainly managed to put that pressure on my game. But I’ve made a couple of adjustments and I feel a lot more confident.”
It will be role reversal Friday. Usually a player like Ogilvie is fighting to make it to the weekend. Now for the second straight tournament, Woods will be feeling the heat of the cut line.
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esherman@tribune.com
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