Tiger Woods Not In Tournament Form Yet

By ESPN

The idyllic golf course on the Pacific Ocean that has been the place of so many Tiger Woods highlights over the years did not produce any such memories Thursday during his first round of 2017.

Playing in his first official PGA Tour event in 17 months, Woods looked like someone who is not in tournament form at the Farmers Insurance Open, with a smattering of errant shots on an unrelenting Torrey Pines South Course that led to a score of 76, 4 over par.

It was the worst opening round to a calendar year in Woods' career, surpassing the 73 he shot two years ago at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, where he missed the cut.

He will have his work cut out on Friday, where he will play the easier North Course but will have to go well under par to make the 36-hole cut. Woods is tied for 133rd, with the top 70 and ties making it to the weekend.

"Well, it was tough out there, period," said Woods, who failed to hit a single fairway on the back nine and hit only four for the round. "I was in the rough most of the day, and it was tough. It was wet.

"The very first hole, OK, here we go. We've got a ball that's sitting into the grain. Not only was it into the grain, but it was buried underneath there and it was going from left to right, which that's the path I needed to take. So I'm like, OK, this is the very first hole. Let's not do this anymore. Unfortunately, I did it most of the day."

The first at Torrey's South Course has been a bit of a nemesis for Woods, anyway; he double-bogeyed it during three of the four rounds of his 2008 U.S. Open victory.

But Woods struggled off the tee all day, and it cost him -- not at all uncommon on this course.

The difficulties might come as a surprise given his relatively solid performance last month at the Hero World Challenge, his first competitive golf in more than a year.

But the Bahamas was warm, the golf course friendly, the fairways wide, the competition a bunch of top-ranked players enjoying a low-key event.

Torrey Pines is another matter, as Woods well knows. His eight victories here came with him in top form. At 7,600 yards and playing longer due to wet conditions, it is a stern test for those in good form. It was also cool, causing Woods to go from a sweater vest to a sweater as the round progressed.

It didn't help that the round took 5 hours, 20 minutes; No. 1-ranked Jason Day shot 73 and No. 3 Dustin Johnson had a 72 playing with Woods.