Tiger Woods may be in danger of missing back-to-back cuts in majors for the first time in his career, but he remained defiant he can recover after a first round of four-over par at The Open on Thursday. After carding a dismal 76, it meant Woods was also facing the third time in four outings at a Grand Slam event that the 14-time major winner had failed to play at the weekend. "Hopefully the conditions will be tough tomorrow (Saturday) and I can put together a good round and we'll move up the board progressively," Woods said.
"I'm so far back and the leaderboard is so bunched that in order for me to get in there by Sunday, I'm going to have to have the conditions tough and then obviously put together some really solid rounds, something like what J.D. (John Daly) did back in '95. "If you shoot some good, solid rounds in tough conditions like that, players can move up the board, and hopefully I'm one of them.
The writing was on the wall as early as the first hole that the golfing Gods had again turned against the hugely-popular American when he buried his approach shot in the water at the Swilcan Burn. The 39-year-old, dressed in sober grey like many of the golfers, managed to get down in two from the drop but still bogeyed his fifth opening hole in his last seven major starts. "It was a discouraging start and I was a little angered a little bit.