Tiger Woods at Phoenix Open 2015: Daily Leaderboard Analysis, Highlights, More

After an injury-plagued 2014, Tiger Woods is in Scottsdale, Arizona to make his 2015 debut at the Waste Management Phoenix Open.

With the 14-time major winner looking to get his year off to a strong start, here is a rundown of his progress at TPC Scottsdale.

Round 2

Woods put himself in a tough spot through one round after shooting a two-over 73, but rather than improving in his second round of the year, the 39-year-old legend took a huge step in the wrong direction.

Tiger shot a bloated 11-over 82 on Friday, which put him in last place at 13-over for the tournament when he entered the clubhouse. Woods missed the cut by several strokes, so he won't have the opportunity to correct his game over the weekend.

Here is a look at Tiger's second-round scorecard, courtesy of PGATour.com:

Hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	OUT
Hole	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	IN
Par	4	4	5	3	4	4	3	4	4	35
Score	4	4	5	5	3	5	4	3	5	38
Par	4	4	3	5	4	5	3	4	4	36
Score	4	5	3	5	6	8	3	5	5	44

Also, here is a snapshot of the current leaderboard at the Waste Management Phoenix Open:

Woods started on the back nine, which should have been a positive after going two-under on the back in the first round. That certainly wasn't the case in the second round, though, as Tiger suffered through one of the worst nine-hole stretches in his entire career.

After carding a par on the 10th hole, Woods seemingly fell apart. The first sign of trouble came on the par-four 11th when he had to settle for a bogey. As seen in this photo courtesy of Golfweek Magazine, Tiger certainly didn't put himself in an ideal position:

He rebounded to some degree by parring both the 12th and 13th holes; however, the struggling star fell flat once again on the 14th. He ended up with a double-bogey six on that particular hole after a wayward shot ended up in the brush:

That marked the beginning of an absolutely awful five-hole run. Woods hacked his way to a triple-bogey eight on the 15th, parred the 16th and then bogeyed once again on the 17th.

Tiger was nine-over for the tournament at that point, which prompted Roland Martin of TV One to accurately point out that he was nowhere near the form that made him one of the all-time greats:

The hits didn't stop there, though, as Woods closed out his front nine with yet another bogey. That resulted in an eight-over 44, which matched the worst nine-hole score of Tiger's illustrious career, according to ESPN Stats & Info:

Woods' poor start to the second round left him at 10-over for the tournament and all alone in last place, per Golf.com:

Based on these stats courtesy of the PGA Tour Now, it is easy to see what led to Tiger's demise on the back nine:

Woods' fate was essentially already sealed through nine holes, so he faced a major challenge in terms of remaining engaged and attempting to end the tournament on a semi-high note.

Unfortunately, that didn't really happen. Following three pars, Woods double-bogeyed the par-three fourth to move to 12-over for the event.

Just when it seemed like things couldn't get any worse for Tiger, he ended up in a prickly predicament, according to Tyson Milanovich of AZFamily.com:

The fifth hole brought the first positive result of the day for Woods as he registered his first birdie of the day. ESPN's Trey Wingo provided the Twitter version of a Bronx cheer in response:

As quickly as Tiger seemed to be turning things around, they went right back off the rails again. He bogeyed both the sixth and seventh holes to erase any progress he had made.

Woods' overall game was a mess, but his work on and around the green stood out as his biggest deficiency. Per John Strege of Golf Digest, former pro golfer and current Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee is shocked at how poor Tiger's short game has become.

"

(This is) the worst I've ever seen a tour pro around the greens and it is a long way from there to playing competitive golf again. ... The issues around the greens, this is an issue that I've really never seen anybody fully recover from. And those that came to his defense at Isleworth talked about the difficult turf conditions at Isleworth. These (at the TPC Scottsdale) are some of the most friendly turf conditions that players will face all year.

"

While Woods has plenty to fix, there is no question that his chipping and putting woes are at the top of the list.

Tiger closed out his day with a birdie on the eighth hole and a bogey on the ninth. In the end, he continued his disturbing trend of finishing rounds with an over-par score, according to ESPN's John Buccigross:

Also, his score of 82 was the worst of his professional career, per SportsCenter:

Woods finished the day in 132nd place, which is dead last. That has to be tough pill to swallow for a player who dominated the sport for such a long period of time. 

Tiger challenging Jack Nicklaus' major championship record of 18 was once considered a foregone conclusion, but Woods must first worry about being competitive in a normal tournament before he can consider being a contender in majors.

This was Woods' first outing of 2015, but he will have to improve rapidly in order to hang with the world's top players in 2015.

Round 1

Tiger Woods stumbled out of the gate at the Waste Management Phoenix Open in Scottsdale, Arizona. And while he was able to recover somewhat from that slow start, his early struggles could make it very difficult for Woods to make the cut.    

Woods shot a two-over 73 on Thursday in his 2015 debut, putting him well behind the lead and in desperate need of a big round on Friday. He now sits tied for 104th on the leaderboard. That's an incredibly poor start, especially by his own standards, as Jason Sobel of Golf Channel tweeted:

Golf Channel's Tiger Woods tracker captured some of his comments following the action:

Here is the full leaderboard with Thursday's results:

Woods couldn't buy a break early in the tournament, bogeying the first two holes. He managed to temporarily stop the bleeding with a par on No. 3, but things really got ugly on the next hole, as he double-bogeyed No. 4 and was sitting four shots over par after four holes.

The video below shows Woods' early-round woes:

Woods calmed down a bit after the fourth hole, however, with a birdie on No. 5 and three pars after that. But he had already dug himself a hole that could ultimately doom his chances.

Here's a look at his first birdie of the season:

But Woods soon found himself in more trouble, sandwiching a par on the 10th hole with bogeys on Nos. 9 and 11. At five-over, Woods was facing a wretched afternoon at TPC Scottsdale. 

Woods was determined not to finish in such miserable fashion, however. Following a par on No. 12, he provided one of the highlights of the day with a lovely eagle on No. 13. Here's the approach shot that led to his much-needed eagle:

That shot seemed to give Woods confidence, and he cruised with three pars and a birdie on No. 17 to close out his opening round, though things got pretty interesting on No. 16, per golf writer Stephanie Wei:

It isn't terribly hard to track the difference between Woods' uninspiring start and his solid finish. As Justin Ray of Golf Channel tweeted, Woods hit far more greens in regulation on the back nine, and his score reflected it:

Hitting 55.56 percent of the greens in regulation certainly isn't a recipe for success. After the opening round, Woods spoke about some of the difficulties he faced with his mid-range game, per Golf Digest:

As Kelly Tilghman of Golf Channel noted, Woods sounded very much like a man reforming his swing and overall game:

Indeed, Woods is working with a new swing coach, Chris Como, and it was certainly obvious that he didn't play as naturally and freely on Thursday as he might have in the past. Still, the fact that Woods played much better on the back nine is perhaps an indication that the changes in his game will continue to yield positive results the more comfortable he gets.

Well, positive in the long run, that is. Woods now finds himself in a major battle to even make the cut and certainly can't replicate his disastrous start on Friday. If he does, his stay in Scottsdale will be a short one.