PGA Championship: Tiger Woods says no damage done

TIGER Woods insisted no damage had been done to his bid for a 15th major title despite a nightmare finish to his first round of the US PGA Championship at Oak Hill.

Woods was two under par after six holes in perfect scoring conditions, but eventually had to settle for a one-over 71 after running up a double-bogey six on the ninth, his final hole.

That left the world No 1, whose last major win came in the 2008 US Open, six shots behind clubhouse leader Jim Furyk, who bogeyed the ninth to card a 65 and miss out on equalling the course record by a shot.

“I’m still right there,” said Woods, who won his eighth Bridgestone Invitational by seven shots on Sunday. “As of right now I’m only six back and we have got a long way to go.

“I played really well today. The round realistically could have been under par easily.”

Woods certainly looked like being three under when he hit his approach to the second to three feet, but his birdie attempt never even touched the hole.

“[It was a] tricky little putt,” said Woods, whose group were being timed for slow play at that stage. Woods made his first bogey of the day on the par-5 fourth after failing to get up and down from a greenside bunker, and then fluffed a pitch on the ninth into more sand to take another six.