Woods hits new low with 85 at Memorial

Tiger Woods produced the worst round of his professional career, a 13-over-par 85 in the third round of the Memorial Tournament in Ohio on Sunday (NZ time).

The 14-time major champion finished off a bad day with a quadruple bogey eight on the 18th hole to eclipse his previous worst of 82 at the Phoenix Open earlier this year. A day after making a clutch par putt to make the cut, the fivetime event champion managed one birdie while carding six bogeys, two double bogeys and the quadruple bogey.

Six-time major champion Nick Faldo, now an analyst, said: ‘‘Tiger is going to walk away saying to himself: what am I going to do next? How do I pull this back.

‘‘I’m not too sure he can handle all of this.’’

The round marked the third time in his professional career Woods has failed to break 80.

The former world number one, who has slumped to 172nd in the global rankings, found water hazards four times.

As was the case over the opening two rounds, he struggled to find fairways, getting seven of 14 which left him with 16 of 42 over three rounds at Muirfield Village.

He sits 71st at 12-over par for the tournament, 24 shots off secondround leader David Lingmerth.

American Zac Blair, playing with his idol for the first time, bested Woods by 15 shots.

‘‘I’ve always wanted to play with him. As a little kid that was kind of my dream,’’ the 20-year-old said. ‘‘He’s just kind of working through some things, obviously it takes some time to work through some swing changes and stuff like that. But he’s the best player to ever play, in my opinion. ‘‘He’ll get back to playing good.’’ Woods’ woes began with backto-back bogeys on the fourth and fifth holes and when he went from bunker to bunker on the par three eighth en route to a double bogey, the wheels were already coming off. He took another double on nine after dumping his approach in the water, was wet again on the 11th, and by the 12th was eight over.

His fifth bogey came on the 14th hole when he failed to get up and down from a greenside bunker before he managed his lone birdie on the par-five 15th.

Then his approach on the 17th caught a tree and dropped into a creek, resulting in another bogey.

At the 18th, taking a three-wood off the tee, Woods pulled his shot into another creek and after a drop was still short of the green.

He caught his chip shot heavy and his ball rolled back off the green. He chunked his next attempt into a bunker.

Unable to get out of the sand, he had to take an eight, ensuring his worst ever score.