Tiger Woods at Dubai Desert Classic 2017: Thursday Score and Reaction

Tiger Woods faces a mountainous task to make the cut at the 2017 Dubai Desert Classic after an opening-round score of 77 left him near the bottom of the leaderboard on Thursday.

The four-time Masters champion recorded his first-ever birdie-free round at the Emirates Golf Club in his 29th visit to the course, per the European Tour, and is facing a fight on Friday to make the second half of the tournament.

Sergio Garcia led the leaderboard on seven under par at the time Woods finished his first round with the morning group on Thursday, sitting some 12 shots in front of the veteran, who bogeyed three par fours and two par fives.

Woods partnered defending champion Danny Willett, who finished Day 1 on one under, and Matthew Fitzpatrick, who found himself in early contention after carding an impressive 69 on Thursday.

Read on for a recap of Woods' disappointing first-round performance at the Emirates Golf Club as the 2017 Dubai Desert Classic got under way.

Position	Player	To Par
1	Sergio Garcia	-7
T2	Felipe Aguilar	-6
T2	George Coetzee	-6
T4	Nino Bertasio	-5
T4	Ian Poulter	-5
T4	David Lipsky	-5
T4	Nacho Elvira	-5
T8	Graeme McDowell	-4
T8	Henrik Stenson	-4
T128	Tiger Woods	+5

Recap

Anticipation was building ahead of Woods' return to Dubai this week despite a back injury preventing him from competing for almost all of 2016, but the 41-year-old just couldn't find his rhythm after a glum start on Thursday.

The European Tour celebrated the two-time Desert Classic champion's return to the Emirates Golf Club, despite almost a decade having passed since his last championship win there:

"

"It's great to be back." @TigerWoods#DDC17 pic.twitter.com/xVOgQhBcYx

— The European Tour (@EuropeanTour) February 1, 2017"

That rustiness looked immediately clear, however, after Woods bogeyed two of his opening three holes, sending his tee shot into the rough on the 10th to announce an undesirable return to Dubai.

Woods' drive left him short of the mark on numerous occasions, and it was those holes comprising more yards to the tee that saw him fail to perform, bogeying two of the four par fives over the course of his Day 1 outing.

One of those fell on the 18th before making his turn back to the first hole for the home stretch, where back-to-back bogeys on the fifth and sixth—both par fours—just about killed off any chance of a title run in Dubai.

Woods failed to soak up any of the form brought to the table by partners Willett and Fitzpatrick, whom the European Tour illustrated as being a class above their crestfallen peer:

The lowlight of Woods' Thursday display came when his approach from just 100 yards out on the 18th hole dipped worryingly into the lake next to the green, a shot the "old Tiger" never would have permitted.

Woods addressed his performance after Thursday's run before admitting he was in the dark as to what helped his game improve for his final two holes on the eighth and ninth, both of which he parred, per James Corrigan of the Telegraph:

"

I didn't hit the ball very well. I left probably about 16 putts short. I just couldn't get the speed of these things, and consequently, it added up to a pretty high number.

[...]

If I knew, I could tell you right now. But there's something that's different. The last two drives there was something different. I need to figure out what the hell I did that was different, and then replicate it for hopefully another 54 more holes.

"

While a second-round revival on Friday could, in theory, keep Woods in the competition should it be good enough to make the cut, he's still way off the pace if winning the crown in Dubai was his true aim.