Pain forces Woods to withdraw after third round
TULSA, Okla. – Tiger Woods' body finally said enough was enough.
The 15-time major champion and four-time Wanamaker Trophy winner withdrew from the 104th PGA Championship shortly after play ended Saturday.
Woods turned in the worst score in his PGA Championship career Saturday, a 9-over 79. Woods labored through the round, feeling pain in his right foot, ankle and leg that was severely damaged during a single-car rollover accident 15 months ago.
One of the few things on the bright side of matters for Woods was breaking 80. Still, it was his highest score in a PGA by two strokes.
Most everything else, however, was miserable. For the first time in a major championship as a pro, Woods made five consecutive bogeys or worse. He made a triple-bogey 6 on the downhill par-3 sixth. He hit two balls into the water. He hit just six fairways and six greens in regulation on a day the thermometer never hit 60.
Woods didn't mince words after his round.
“I just didn't play well. I didn't hit the ball very well and got off to not the start I needed to get off to,” he said. “I thought I hit a good tee shot down 2 and ended up in the water, and just never really got any kind of momentum on my side.”
His worst stretch began at the sixth and didn't stop until he left the 13th green. In eight holes, he made one par, six bogeys and a triple.
“Well, I couldn't get off the bogey (or other) train there,” Woods said. “I didn't do anything right. I didn't hit many good shots.”
His highest score in a major is 81, in the third round of the 2002 Open at Muirfield. He also shot 80 in the opening round of the 2015 U.S. Open at Chambers Bay.
He has not committed to play in next month's U.S. Open but has said he will play in the Open Championship in St. Andrews, Scotland, where he has won twice.