How the great Tiger Woods was tamed by the Old Course in a six-hour slog at the 150th Open

The galleries were six, seven, sometimes even eight or nine deep so, for thousands of those golf fans following Tiger Woods around the Old Course, the only possible vantage point to view the living legend in action was through the screen of one of hundreds of phone cameras that were trained on him every time he addressed the ball.

What they saw was not vintage Woods, though. Far from it. But if Woods has lost some of his threat, he has lost none of his appeal.

The man who has won two of his Open Championships at the home of golf and based this year’s schedule around ensuring he was able to compete at the historic 150th Open on his favourite course, is used to the crowds, of course. They were there when he debuted here in 1995 and again when he lifted the Claret Jug in 2000 and 2005.

But no-one is used to seeing him struggle so badly on the hallowed links. Especially in a round that dragged on for over six hours.

“It is probably the highest score I could have shot. Didn't get off to a great start. Hit a good tee shot down one, ended up right in the middle of a fresh divot. And I hit a good shot. Wind gusts hit it and ended up in the burn.

“In a round sometimes it just goes that way. It just goes one way and it never seems to come back. No matter how hard you fight. And then I compounded problems with my bad speed on the greens. I hit the ball in the correct spots a couple times, left myself some good lag putts, the correct angles and I messed those up.

“So when I had opportunities to make a few putts, I missed them, and just never got anything going.”

Even after his injuries and the long absences from tournament golf as he tries to manage a battered and temperamental body, there was some positivity in his pre-event words, when he spoke about how golfing nous of links golf can occasionally counter physical limitations.

Tiger Woods in action during day one of the 150th Open at St Andrews Old Course. (Photo by Ross Parker / SNS Group)

But for that to happen he also needs a kindly bounce of the ball.

Teeing off in the 150th Open, he gained a rapturous response, and stepped up to skelp the ball down the fairway. He must have thought it a decent opener, until he caught up with it and found it cupped in a tricky divot.

Trying to salvage it, he took a faceful of sand and his second shot bounced just before the snaking Swilcan Burn and plopped in. Taking a drop and then two-putting, he would go on to double-bogey that first hole.

It set the tone for his round but did little to douse the vocal backing from the crowd, even if he was damned by faint praise as one dad informed a kid who was far too young to have witnessed Woods in his pomp that while “he might not be the best golfer out there now, at least you can now say you’ve seen a legend”.

Tiger Woods on the 14th tee during his first round at The 150th Open at St Andrews Old Course. (Photo by Ross Parker / SNS Group)

To be fair they had caught him on a bad day as he battled hard but still ended the day with his worst score since making his professional debut on the Old Course in 1995.

His first round of competitive golf since the PGA Championship in May, Woods chose to sit out the US Open, won by playing partner Matt Fitzpatrick, who would surely have enjoyed louder backing had he and Max Homa not been left in the shadow of a box office golfer.

And, maybe it was rustiness, maybe it was the unfortunate start prompting the kind of human response he rarely succumbed to in his heyday, or perhaps it was his body letting him down as he started to hobble slightly, but by the time he was through the first eight, he was already six over par and 14 shots off clubhouse leader Cameron Young.

“I'm not going to play a full schedule ever again. My body just won't allow me to do that. I don't know how many Open Championships I have left here at St Andrews, but I wanted this one. It started here for me in '95, and if it ends here in '22, it does. If it doesn't, it doesn't. If I get the chance to play one more, it would be great, but there's no guarantee.”

Tiger Woods in action on day one of the 150th Open at St Andrews Old Course. (Photo by Ross Parker / SNS Group)

A double-bogey on that first, followed by bogeys on the third and fourth, he looked like he may have stabilised things with back to back pars before dropping two more shots at the seventh.

It was all a bit of a drain at that time. But, come the turn, there was finally something to smile about.

Holing a putt, the strain that had been painted on his face was dispelled and replaced by a beaming grin and a tumultuous response from the crowd, who had stuck with him through a tough front nine.

Turning in five-over 41, the feelgood mood held as he landed a lovely approach shot a few feet from the flag, before seeing it in for a second successive birdie.

Suddenly there is a bit of verve. Until his par putt on the 11th ran over the top of the hole and another shot was lost.

The short par four 12th gave him another chance to pull a stroke back but there was despair and frustration as he failed to make the most of a delightful pitch and sink his putt. But he simply offered a wry smile when he bogeyed the 13th, before making birdie on the 14th and then par on the 15th.

The crowd stayed with him, whooping his tee shot on the 16th but it was a round of trials and tribulations and he was profligate with the putter to move onto the 17th at six-over.

Which is where he stayed with two pars in the final holes.