Woods’ Most Painful Scorecards Revealed — One Round That Shook the Golf World to Its Core
Among the 15 majors, 82 wins on the PGA Tour and over 100 around the world, there have been a few disasters over Woods’ spectacular career.
Most have been as a result of back and body problems, and that strange period where he had the chipping yips, but the elements and the vagaries of links golf have also played their part.
85 – 2015 Memorial Tournament
On day three at Muirfield Village, a venue where he had won five times, Woods shot his highest score as a professional when he recorded an 85. Thirteen over par and 15 shots worse than his playing partner, Zac Blair.
Woods parred his first three holes but then followed seven bogeys, doubles at 8 and 9, and he would finish with a quadruple-bogey 8 at the last. There was one birdie – out in 42, back in 43.
Looking back, the 15-time Major winner explained: “I didn’t want to have anyone watch me play the way I was playing. Unfortunately, that’s all I had. I take pride in throughout the years, of never bagging it. I’ve tried in every single round to fight to the end. I’ve had (a few) rounds in the 80s in my career, and unfortunately, that was the highest one I’ve ever had. It didn’t feel very good. But it is what it is. I tried and, unfortunately, you on this course, hitting it as bad as I did, it just wasn’t good enough.”
For playing partner and then rookie Blair, it was still a great memory.
“He was my idol, and I tried not to expect much, but he was really nice, talked to me all day, and talked to me about fishing in Utah. The Chambers Bay US Open was coming up, and we talked about that because I had played in the US Amateur there. Some of the things he could do with a golf ball made me realise why he was the best. He was still able to do some good things. He hit some iron shots that I couldn’t believe how flush they were,” added Blair.
“Whenever I tell people the story about playing with Tiger, I always try to tell them how amazing he was toward me. He could have easily walked off. He wasn’t playing his best, and after nine holes, he could have just gone in. He stuck through it all day and really ground it out and was still really nice. That was the coolest round of golf in my entire life.”
He would finish with a 74 to finish flat last, eight shots away from the next best.
82 – 2024 Masters
The next highest effort was a 10-over 82 at Augusta National. The previous day, he had battled his way through 23 holes to make a record-breaking 24th straight cut, but then started with a front nine of 42, also his worst at Augusta, and was home in 40 shots.
“I was not hitting it very well or putting it well. I didn’t have a very good warm-up session, and I kept it going all day. Just hit the ball in all the places that I know I shouldn’t hit it. I missed a lot of putts. Easy, makeable putts – I missed a lot of them.”
There was a birdie, incredibly at the 5th, but he doubled 7 (where he chipped into a greenside bunker) and 8, and there were five bogeys on the back nine to complete the misery.
“I haven’t competed and played much,” Woods added. “I had chances to get it flipped around, and when I made that putt at five, I promptly three-putted six and flubbed a chip at seven, and just got it going the wrong way. When I had opportunities to flip it, I didn’t.”
