Making the cut on the number, the weekend at Tiger Woods was expected to simply be another opportunity to for the 14-time major champion to get a few more competitive rounds under his belt. However, after a red-hot third round that saw Woods shoot a front-nine 6-under par 30 en route to a 65, Sunday’s goals changed a little bit.
Webb Simpson Laps The Field At The Players Championship
Knowing he needed to go low again and get some help from Webb Simpson at the top of the leaderboard, Tiger was able to get off to another good start on Sunday birdieing holes three, four and five before adding his fourth birdie of the day at the par-5 9th.
1st hole: 11 back
12th hole: 4 back— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 13, 2018
Turning at 11-under par got to 13-under after back-to-back birdies on Nos. 12 and 13 to creep within four shots of Simpson. A bogey on the 14th hole stalled the charge and then after failing to capitalize on the par-5 16th hole, Woods walked to the gauntlet that is the island green 17th.
A double bogey for Tiger Woods.
He leaves the 17th hole 8 shots back. pic.twitter.com/hT4wcg0cLE
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 13, 2018
Any hope of a miraculous finish for Woods was washed away when he failed to convert his 11-foot bogey putt and wrote down a double-bogey five on his scorecard. Amazingly, it was the first time Tiger found the water on 17 in the last 13 years.
“(I hit) a sand wedge,” Woods said after the round. “It was blowing downwind, and then, unfortunately, it switched in my face.”
Vintage Tiger Roars At Sawgrass
Overall, Woods was pleased with the week as a whole.
“It really is (a big positive),” he said. “I didn’t play particularly well in the first couple days, but I turned it around this weekend and I got it rolling. I hit the ball well, I controlled it and I made some putts. I knew my putting was right around the corner, I knew I was close because I hit good putts that just didn’t go in. It was just a matter of time, and this weekend was it.
“There’s no way I would have predicted I would be at this point the beginning of the year, the way I was just coming back and just trying to get a feel for it and then hopefully have a schedule. But now I feel like I’ve got my playing feels and I’m playing tournament golf and I’ve got it — I’m not that far off from winning golf tournaments.”
Tiger is expected to tee it up at the Memorial Tournament on May 31st and then it’s on to the second major championship of the year at Shinnecock Hills for the U.S. Open on June 14.
