Updated at 08.45
TIGER WOODS LAMENTED his tough return to the PGA Tour after falling apart in round one of the Farmers Insurance Open.
Fans flocked to the famed Torrey Pines to watch Woods play on Tour for the first time since August 2015 but the 14-time major champion capitulated late as he carded a four-over-par 76.
Woods — who has been plagued by persistent back issues — is 11 shots adrift of leader Justin Rose and in danger of missing the cut after holing four bogeys and a double-bogey on the back nine on Thursday. The 41-year-old American had made it to one under through 11 holes.
Reflecting on his comeback, Woods said: “It was tough out there, period. I was in the rough most of the day and it was tough. It was wet.
“The very first hole, okay, here we go. We’ve got a ball that’s sitting into the grain. Not only was it into the grain but it was buried underneath there… So I’m like okay, this is the very first hole. Let’s not do this anymore. Unfortunately, I did it most of the day.”
Woods continued: “I was fighting out there all day; didn’t really hit it that good. Greens were a little tough out there with some of the putts. I had a round in which I let it slip away in the middle part of the back nine and unfortunately didn’t hit very good shots.”
Woods — a seven-time winner of the tournament — ended his round with a birdie at the 18th and he added: ”I fought my tail off out there, I fought hard.
“It was nice to put together a round when I wasn’t hitting it that great early. I was putting together the round. As I said, I was one-under through 11 and I was in a good spot to really shoot a good round and didn’t really have my best stuff early. But I got through there and that’s one of the positives obviously I’m going to take out of it.
“We somehow all made birdie on the last hole, so we were high-fiving in there. We don’t know how we made them, but we’re going to go over on some better greens tomorrow, some better conditions and hopefully not only myself but the rest of the guys, we can put some good numbers up.”
At seven under par, Justin Rose holds a one-shot lead over Adam Hadwin heading into today’s second round. Shane Lowry is best of the Irish on one under, while Pádraig Harrington and Seamus Power are both three strokes further back.
