For a long time, the only certainties in life were death, taxes and Tiger Woods holing important putts on the 18th green.
While two of those three things will truly never change, Tiger proved that the third piece of that list isn’t quite as certain as it used to be.
Playing Denmark’s Lucas Bjerregaard in the quarterfinals of the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play Championship, Woods was never going to have a cakewalk to Sunday’s semifinals. Despite not being quite the household name that Woods is, Bjerregaard is ranked 52nd in the world and is the owner of two European Tour titles.
Playing alongside one of his childhood idols, Bjerregaard was up for the match seemingly going shot for shot with Woods around Austin Country Club. Woods held a 2-up lead through six holes, but the rest of the way, neither player held more than a one-hole advantage.
Bjerregaard was able to square the match with an eagle on the par-5 16th hole, besting Woods’ birdie, and he took the two made matching birdies on the par-3 17th to head to the 18th all square.
From there, the unthinkable happened. With both short and in the right rough on the 18th, Woods left his approach short and in the greenside bunker while Bjerregaard played safely behind the hole. Bjerregaard two-putted for par, leaving Woods a 6-foot putt to tie and go to extra holes.
Unbelievable.@LBjerregaard does the unthinkable and defeats Tiger Woods @DellMatchPlay.#QuickHits pic.twitter.com/8nPWRoFEQ1
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 30, 2019
Afterward, Woods was hot. He met with GolfTV’s Henni Zuel to give his thoughts on the match.
“It’s really hard to look to the bright side of things right now.”
~@TigerWoods talks about the sting of losing his quarterfinal on the 18th hole after a long day of mostly stellar golf. pic.twitter.com/BFqcb3M8nD— GOLFTV (@GOLFTV) March 30, 2019
“I wanted to play tomorrow,” Woods said. “This is going to sting for a few days and I’ll get back after it after that.”
Tiger will regroup over the next few days until he sets his sights on Augusta National and the first major championship of the year next week.
