Tiger Woods blames back spasm for shank on 18 as he returns a 1-over 72 on first round back to the PGA Tour.
Tiger Woods carded a 1-over 72 on his first round back on the PGA Tour in 10 months at the Genesis Invitational, but he was left to rue a shocking shank on the 18th.
Woods, 48, endured a rollercoaster first round at famed Riviera with five birdies mixed in amongst five bogeys thru 17 holes.
However, he ended the round on a low note, making his sixth bogey of the day after hitting a poorly executed approach shot to the 18th hole that went into the trees.
Woods deserves credit for hitting an impressive third shot from that position, which landed 25 feet away from the hole.
However, he was unable to successfully make the par putt. “At present, Woods is positioned beyond the top 50 and faces the risk of failing to meet the halfway cut.”
Of his shank, Woods said:
“I had a back spasm on the last three holes, it locked up on me, it didn’t rotate on me and I hit the hosel first.”
WATCH TIGER WOODS HIT A SHANK ON THE 18TH HOLE
Woods began the round promisingly by scoring a birdie on the straightforward par-5 1st hole, but he then proceeded to make consecutive bogeys on the 2nd and 3rd holes. Afterwards, the player who previously held the top ranking in the world managed to recover by scoring birdies on both the fourth and sixth holes, which were par-3s.
Woods started his round with a score of 1-under par, however, he later made a bogey on the 10th hole, bringing him back to an even par.
After scoring a birdie on the following hole, he returned to a score of 1-under. However, he quickly lost that advantage by making an untidy bogey on the 12th hole, where he encountered difficulty after his tee shot.
Woods made a mistake and scored one over par on the 15th hole, but he managed to bounce back with a birdie on the 17th hole, which is a par-5.
He finished his round with another bad shot on the 18th hole, resulting in another bogey, thanks to his poorly hit shot.
After the round Woods said:
“My round was good but a little bit indifferent, I struggled with the speed of the greens, they were a lot faster than I’ve seen Riviera before.
“I didn’t feel like I hit a lot of greens. I was stressing out with the short game, it was either a birdie or bogey out there, it was a little bit indifferent.”