Woods falls apart, shoots 76 in return.
He soars to 76; Rose leads pack
Tiger Woods had a rough return to the PGA Tour on Thursday. A slow one, too. Woods, playing in a PGA Tour event for the first in 17 months, fell apart on the back nine of the South course at Torrey Pines and wound up with a 4-over 76, leaving him in danger of missing the cut at the Farmers Insurance Open in San Diego.
He was 11 shots behind Justin Rose, who shot a 65 on the shorter North Course.
Along with fighting his swing — he didn’t hit a fairway after No. 7 — and coping with thick rough he had not seen in some time, Woods said he had a hard time adjusting to the pace of play from being in threesomes for the first time since he last played a PGA Tour event in August 2015.
His game was a greater concern than having to wait.
“I let it slip away in the middle part of the back nine,” Woods said. “And unfortunately, didn’t hit very good shots.”
Rose had a quiet time over on the North Course, which was renovated by Tom Weiskopf and has new and smooth greens. He had two eagles over his last five holes to take the lead by one shot over Adam Hadwin of Canada, who shot 59 last week in the California desert.
Phil Mickelson opened with a 71 on the North Course, while Rickie Fowler and Jimmy Walker each had 72.
LPGA Tour: Brittany Lincicome shot a tournament-record 9-under 64 to take the first-round lead in the season-opening Pure Silk Bahamas Classic on Paradise Island.
U.S. Solheim Cup teammate Stacy Lewis was two strokes back along with Megan Khang and P.K. Kongkraphan. Lewis is winless since June 2014.
Second-ranked Ariya Jutanugarn had a 75. Topranked Lydia Ko is skipping the tournament.