Tiger Woods’ British Open implosion has him staring down harsh reality

TROON, Scotland — Tiger Woods appears well on his way to missing his third consecutive cut in a major championship.

Woods, 48, struggled through an 8-over 79 in Thursday’s British Open first round at Royal Troon, the site of his first Open as a professional in 1997.

Woods, who’s played in only five PGA Tour events this year, is seemingly finished with tournament play until December after this week, expected to play the Hero World Challenge, which he hosts in the Bahamas.

He withdrew from the Genesis Invitational with an illness during his second round. He finished last among the 60 players who made the cut at the Masters. And he missed the cut in the PGA Championship and at the U.S. Open.

And now, it’ll take a very low score in Friday’s second round to keep Woods in Scotland this weekend.

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Woods got off a solid start with a birdie on No. 3 to get to 1-under. Then things went bad en route to shooting 40 on the front nine.

He had a bogey on No. 4, a double bogey on No. 5 and bogeys on Nos. 7 and 8.

Then Woods pumped his tee shot into the railroad tracks, out of bounds, off the tee on No. 11 and took double bogey, which was followed by another bogey on 12 to fall to 7-over.

He birdied 13 to climb back to 6-over, but closed with bogeys on the 17th and 18th, where he shoved a 7-foot par putt to the right of the cup.

Tiger Woods falls apart after promising British Open start

“I didn’t do a whole lot of things right today,’’ Woods said. “I made that [birdie] putt on the third hole, and then I think I had three three-putts today. I didn’t hit my irons very close, and I didn’t give myself a whole lot of looks.

“I need to shoot something in the mid-60s tomorrow to get something going on the weekend.’’

Asked if he’d in a position where he can play more golf so he’s sharper in the few tournaments he does play, Woods said, “Yeah, I’m physically feeling a lot better than I did at the beginning of the year. At the end of last year, it was tough, and I haven’t played a whole lot.

“As the year has gone on, I have gotten better. I just wish I could have played a little bit more, but I’ve been saving it for the majors just in case I do something pretty major and then take myself out of it. Hopefully, next year will be a little bit better than this year.’’

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Xander Schauffele, who was paired with Woods, said he “hit it pretty solid for the most part [but] had a couple bad breaks and hit it in a couple bad spots.’’

“I’m just happy he’s playing golf. He’s only playing major championships [so] he’s making it as hard on himself as possible, and I know he’s hard on himself too. I think he’s just learning. He’s got to learn a little bit more about his body, what he can and can’t do. I’m sure he’d like to prep more at home if his body would allow it.“As a tour pro now, I kind of know what goes into it and what needs to be done to play at a high level. If your body is not letting you do it, it’s just frustrating. I’m sure he’s trying to figure that out.’’

Meanwhile, during Woods’ round, Sky Sports commentator Mark Roe delivered a startling accusation when he speculated that Woods is using “quite a lot of painkillers.”

“You look at the eyes, you gotta think that there’s quite a lot of painkillers being taken to cope with the pain, ya know,” Roe said as part of Peacock’s featured-holes commentary.

The accusation carries some significance considering Woods’ history with painkillers, with the golfer having painkillers Hydrocodone and Hydromorphone in his system when police arrested him in May 2017 on a DUI charge after finding him asleep at the steering wheel.

Woods also entered a rehab facility that year for an addiction to prescription pills.

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