Tiger Woods at Players Championship 2015: Sunday Leaderboard Score, Reaction
Tiger Woods' third round was a microcosm of everything that's gone wrong in his game the last two years. Wayward drives, poorly struck irons and the occasional grimace defined an 18-hole stretch that saw him nosedive to the bottom of the leaderboard.
For a while, Woods' fourth round looked like it'd remind fans why he's one of the all-time greats. Then things, as they have so many times, fell apart.
The former world No. 1 carded an even-par 72, leaving him in a tie for 70th place heading into the clubhouse.
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| Par | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 36 |
| Score | 4 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 36 |
| Par | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 36 |
| Score | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 36 |
"I had a mixed bag all week," Woods said, per Golf Channel's Tiger Tracker. "Lotta good stuff, some mediocre, some bad."
"Tiger Woods was asked to assess where he is after 4 more rounds, finishing at +3. He said "a few pounds lighter."
— Kelly Tilghman (@KellyTilghmanGC) May 10, 2015"
For most of the day, it appeared as though Woods would turn in his best round of the weekend. He went through the front nine at even par, birdieing the par-three third before a bogey on No. 7. Woods even fell short on a couple of opportunities for birdie, which made his start to the back nine all the more promising.
Building on the momentum of a front nine in which he fell just short, Woods started red hot on the back. He hit three straight birdies on Nos. 10-12, which included a number of sensational shots. He drilled his approach within five feet on No. 10, narrowly missed an eagle on a 36-foot putt on the 11th and drained a 40-foot birdie on the par-four 12th. Finally getting breaks he hadn't all week, it appeared Woods would turn in a round that brought his tournament to respectability.
Unfortunately, there were six more holes to play.
All of the work Woods did to show a return to form fell apart on the par-four 14th. Opening with a 285-yard shot that sank right into the water, Woods was out of sorts from his first shot through his last. He wound up spraying two more shots in the rough and another to just outside the green before two-putting and carding a triple-bogey.
As Justin Ray of Golf Channel noted, it was the first triple of Woods' Players Championship career:
The final four holes were only slightly less eventful. He carded his fourth back-nine birdie on No. 16, nailing a beautiful driver and approach before leaving an eagle eight inches away from the cup. With a chance to get out on a high note, however, Woods hit his drive deep into the rough on No. 18 and dropped a stroke to finish even for the day.
Overall, Woods will finish with the latest in a series of frustrating outcomes in high-profile tournaments. His 17th-place outing at Augusta has been far more the anomaly than the norm. Barring some major collapses by players still on the course, Woods will be outside the top 50 for the seventh time in eight possible tournaments (including withdrawals).
"Obviously I need tournament golf," Woods told reporters on Friday. "My game is finally at a point where I can play tournament golf on a consistent basis. That wasn't the case early in the year. Wasn't very good. But I worked my butt off to change it, and I'm pretty proud of that, to be able to show up at Augusta and do what I did, and now I've just got to keep building from there."
Up next for Woods will be another month-long hiatus before embarking in what he said will be a "busy summer." He's scheduled to play at next month's Memorial before hitting the U.S. Open, Greenbrier Classic, Open Championship and the Quicken Loans National in rapid succession. If he's able to stay healthy through those tournaments, it'll be the longest sustained period of golf he has played since 2013.
It's easy to forget now, but Woods captured five tournaments and was the world's top-ranked golfer at the end of that season.
A lot has changed since then. Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth have established themselves as the faces of the next generation, while Woods' game has failed him nearly as often as his body. If he's ever going to return to mere contendership—let alone make a move on Jack Nicklaus' majors record—the time is now to start showing flashes of his former self.
After what we saw this weekend at Sawgrass, there's a lot more work to be done between now and Chambers Bay.
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