PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Tiger Woods barely made the cut at the Players Championship, but after his first nine holes on Saturday at TPC Sawgrass, he had clawed his way back into the top 10.
Woods made six birdies over the first nine holes for a 30 going out, he then made the turn and made two more birdies before dropping a shot on the par-4 14th hole. He finished with a third round 65, his lowest ever round at the Players Championship.
“Well I finally got off to a good start. I birdied the first couple of holes and I just kept it rolling from there. I hit a lot of good shots today. It was nice to see a few putts go in. I hit a lot of, overall, the whole day, a lot of quality shots and 65 was probably as high as I could have shot today, which was kind of nice.”
Woods looked calm, relaxed, and extremely focused as he traversed TPC Sawgrass. The fans knew what he was doing and other than a few “Go Tiger” shouts, he didn’t hear much from them. They stood in awe as he lit up the difficult greens with only six putts over the first five holes.
Woods hit 15 of 18 greens, made over 99 feet of putts, and also hit 11 of 14 fairways. To date, that appears to be the best round in this comeback.
While it was unfortunate that he made a bogey and dropped a shot to finish at 65, he knew that he had a chance to get to 62, and he felt it.
“Well I finally got off to a good start. I birdied the first couple of holes and I just kept it rolling from there. I hit a lot of good shots today. It was nice to see a few putts go in. I hit a lot of, overall, the whole day, a lot of quality shots and 65 was probably as high as I could have shot today, which was kind of nice.”
It’s nice to see Woods get his “feels” back. While he has yet to win, it just doesn’t look like it will never happen again for him.
– 65 is Woods’ lowest score at The Players Championship
– This was his lowest score since round two of the 2015 Wyndham Championship
– His eight birdies are most in a round since round three of 2014 WGC-Mexico Championship
– His front-nine 30 is the best nine hole score since round two of the 2013 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, his most recent win