GETTING EVEN

Tiger shows some fight to finish at par in Round 1

DUBLIN, Ohio — One day after Tiger Woods boasted about how, regardless of how poorly a round is going for him, he never considers “bagging it,’’ he fought.

Woods, playing in the morning, looked like he was headed t oward a ghastly high number in the opening round of the Memorial on Thursday at Muirfield Village — shooting to 4-over through his first seven holes.

Then Woods reeled it in on his final 10 holes to finish with a respectable even-par 72, but still is seven shots behind leaders Hideki Matsuyama, the 2014 Memorial winner, Joaquin Niemann and Abraham Ancer, who finished 7-under after shooting 65s.

Woods, who’s been off since his tie for 11th at the Players Championship last month, started off poorly, carding a sloppy bogey on the par-5 11th, his second hole of the round, with a tee shot left of the creek left of the fairway. On No. 15, the second par-5 on the back nine, he hit his tee shot out of bounds to the right and took double bogey.

The two-way miss for golfers is their secondworst nightmare — after having the shanks.

The messes on the two par 5s were followed by a bogey from the back bunker on the par-3 16th and suddenly Woods was 4-over par through his first seven holes. A birdie on No. 17 calmed the storm for the moment and got him to 3-over. Woods went on to shoot a 3-under 33 on his final nine holes.

“I fought back,’’ Woods said. “I didn’t really have much starting out, didn’t really feel my swing. I kind of made a few tweaks, a few changes [in mid-round], and made a couple birdies, made a couple of putts and, lo and behold, I finished at even par.

“I know it’s a long way back [from the lead], but at least I’ve got a fighting chance.’’

Woods said his surgically repaired back was “tight,’’ but insisted he was in no pain.

“I wasn’t rotating very well,’’ he said. “It just happens. I just have days like that. It’s aging and it’s surgeries.’’

Woods, early on, looked like he might be headed for another big number at Muirfield, where he shot 85 in the third round in 2015, the last time he played the tournament. Woods has shot four scores in the 80s in his professional career, the highest being that 85 at Memorial, a tournament he’s won five times.

That 85 in 2015 l eft Woods playing by himself in the first group of the final round, during which he shot 74 and finished last by eight shots.

Asked if it was “difficult’’ to play by himself [with an odd number of players having made the cut], Woods said, “I didn’t want to have anyone watch me play the way I was playing.’’

“I tried,’’ he said of his 85. “Unfortunately that’s all I had. I take great pride in … never bagging it. I’ve tried into every single round and tried to fight to the end. I think I hit two or three rounds in the 80s in my career and unfortunately that [85] was the highest one I’ve ever had. It didn’t feel very good.’’

Woods, after his promising start to the 2018 season that included a runner-up finish at the Valspar Championship and a tie for fifth at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March, elevated his aspirations and expectations.

Even after a disappointing tie for 32nd at the Masters, his tie for 11th at the Players was cause to believe Woods might be ready to make a run at the final three major championships, beginning with the U.S. Open in two weeks at Shinnecock.

Woods, too, has serious designs on earning his way onto the Ryder Cup roster as a player despite the fact that he’s already been tabbed a vice captain.

“Of course I want to play,’’ Woods said of the Ryder Cup, which takes place in l ate September and early October in France. “I want to play as a player. I haven’t played in a while. I have a lot of work to do between now and then to be part of the team as a player. I’m going to be part of it either way as an assistant captain.’’

Then Woods joked, “I know that the players and the captain wear different outfits as part of the Ryder Cup and I would really like to screw that up.’’