BETHESDA, Md. — Early on, it looked grim for Tiger Woods. He was going the wrong way in his comeback from back surgery and he looked anything but back after 108 days away from competitive golf.
Woods, who began his Quicken Loans National opening round on Congressional’s 10th hole on Thursday, had just carded his fifth bogey in nine holes to make the turn in an alarming 4-over par when he was trudging off the 18th green and a woman, pressing against the ropes and holding a shirt in her hands, called out to him: “Mr. Woods, can you sign this for me?’’
Woods, never breaking his gait, marched past her — stone-faced and silent — en route to the first tee for his 10th hole of a round that seemed on the verge of slipping from his control.
“I guess not,’’ the woman uttered derisively as Woods left her — and her request — in the dust.
Woods was, understandably, in no mood to chit-chat over an autograph in the middle of the most important round of golf he has played to date this year.
Make no mistake: There was a time, for the better part of the first two hours of his round, when Woods was in a struggle to break 80 in his return to tournament golf after March 31 surgery.
After making the turn and blowing off that clueless fan, he carded sloppy bogeys on Nos. 2 and 3 and was 6-over par with seven bogeys on his first 12 holes.
Cue the missed-cut watch.
But Woods — as he does so often — rallied impressively and reeled in his round, finishing with a roller-coaster 3-over-par 74 after carding birdies on three of his final six holes.
That left him in 83rd place. The good news was he’s just one shot off the cut line. The bad news is only 19 of the 120 players in the field shot a higher score than he did. He’s eight shots behind leader Greg Chalmers (5-under), seven behind Ricky Barnes and Freddie Jacobson (4-under) and six behind U.S. Open runner-up Erik Compton, Patrick Reed and Bill Haas (3-under).
When it was over, Woods sounded somewhat pleased by the way he hung in and avoided posting a big number.
“The score is not really indicative of how I played,’’ Woods said. “I made so many little mistakes.’’
The most curious of those mistakes came from his short game, the only thing he was able to practice often during his recovery. Woods only began to hit drivers two weeks ago, yet his tee shots were the strength of his opening round and his short game let him down.
Woods hit 9-of-14 fairways and 10-of-18 greens in regulation and took 31 putts. Three of those came on his second hole, the 11th, where he left a 30-foot birdie putt 15 feet short and needed two putts from there. Another was a 4-footer he missed for birdie on No. 16. He chunked a wedge on No. 17, leading to another bogey.
“I drove it great,’’ Woods said.
As for his short game, Woods said, “All I’ve been doing is chipping and putting [and] I hit some bad shots.’’
Most importantly for Woods, his surgically repaired back held up well.
“I had no issues at all, no twinges, no nothing,’’ Woods said. “It felt fantastic. That’s one of the reasons why I let go on those tee shots. I hit it pretty hard out there.’’
Overall for Woods, a day that looked like it was going the wrong way ended up positive for him.
“It’s nice to get back out here playing again,’’ he said. “The more I played, the more I felt comfortable about shot selections, my sight lines, all different things [like] playing tournament golf, [getting] the adrenaline going. I’ve been off for a while, and I’ve been held back where I just haven’t been able to let it go. Now I’m able to start doing that.’’
Jordan Spieth (3-over), who along with Jason Day (2-over) played with Woods, came away impressed with the way Woods kept his round together.
“It was cool,’’ Spieth said. “It was great to see everyone behind Tiger welcoming him back and wishing him well. He said that he’s feeling great. He said it’s a little different starting out and he finally found his rhythm and we saw what happens when he found his rhythm there.
“So look for a pretty solid round [Friday] out of him. I wouldn’t be surprised if he shoots a few under.’’