Tiger Woods entered the third round of the Memorial Tournament one-under par. Today he entered the final round 12-over par.
Woods shot a career-worst 85 on Saturday after logging a 73 in round one and 70 in round two. He barely made the cut, which was one-under, and his third round effort left him in last place (71st, where he currently remains) as he finishes up his final round on Sunday morning.
His first round was characterized by many ups and downs. He recorded five birdies, four bogeys and a double bogey to finish one-over on the day. His second round was a bit more consistent, as he logged five birdies and three bogeys to rebound and make the cut. However, this third round only featured one birdie and was littered with six bogeys, two double bogeys and a double par.
Tiger is enduring yet another swing coach change (although he calls his current instructor a 'swing consultant'), and many believe his issues can be attributed to his frequent shifting of philosophies. Woods, however, disagrees.
"I'm staying committed to what we're working on," he said, via Bob Harig of ESPN.com. "And I've gone through phases like this, rounds like this before in the past where, yeah, it's easy to revert back and go ahead and hit some old pattern, but it doesn't do you any good going forward.
"And I've done it, sometimes it's taken me about a year and then it kicked in and I did pretty good after that. And subsequent years went down the road, I did the same thing.
"Got to suck it up. If you believe in it, do it. And eventually it will start turning, and when it turns, I've had periods where I've played good for four or five years, where I've won close to 20 tournaments in that stretch."
His current swing consultant, Chris Como, focuses on "sport injury mechanism," which is how sports movements impact the body. Woods' decision to choose Como likely reflects concern for his health and longevity as he continues to chase Jack Nicklaus' major record. Nicklaus, by the way, thinks Woods needs to review his play "on his own rather than listen to someone else."
Woods had a solid showing at the Masters after his two-month hiatus from golf, but his showing at the Players Championship ended with a T-69th finish and two rounds over par.
The 39-year-old is currently even through 15 holes and looks like he'll finish last as he trails Lucas Glover (70th place) (+6) by six strokes with three holes to go. Glover has six left.
