SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — The focus on Tiger Woods at the Phoenix open shifted Thursday from a chipped tooth to his chipping.
Woods struggled mightily with his short game again, and it didn’t help that he hit only three greens in regulation on the front nine. He made three bogeys and a double bogey and made the turn in 4-over 39.
In his 2015 debut, Woods already was 10 shots behind early leader Keegan Bradley, who had a 6-under 65.
Woods is playing for only the second time since he missed the cut at the PGA Championship last August. He brought in a new swing consultant during his time off to heal from back injuries, and expectations were lower than usual for a player who has won 79 times on the PGA Tour.
In his first trip to the Waste Management Phoenix Open since 2001, playing before the most energetic crowd at an American golf tournament since the PGA Championship, Woods created more groans than cheers, particularly off the green.
Just over a week ago, Woods was photographed in Italy at a World Cup ski race with a missing tooth from what he said was a camera inadvertently hitting him in the mouth. The chipped and crack teeth were easy to replace. His chipping might be a different story.
Woods also duffed a number of chips at the Hero World Challenge in December at Isleworth, the course he knows better than any other in the world. Not much changed two months later.
Woods didn’t hit his chip with a mid-iron hard enough from short of the first green and left it 10 feet short. He sent a routine chip on the second hole some 15 feet by the cup. And on the next hole, the par-5 third hole, Woods was tentative with a flop shot out of the rough and didn’t reach the green. Another chip on the par-3 fourth didn’t reach the green, and he three-putted from 20 feet on the fringe.
The worst of it was at No. 9. His ball was just outside a bunker, and Woods had to play an exaggerated hook with his feet in the sand, and he lost his balance.The ball came up short of the green, and Woods bladed a chip that ran over the back of the green.
Instead of chipping to a close pin, he opted to putt up the slope. It was the second time on the front nine that Woods used a putter instead of chipping