CARNOUSTIE, Scotland — Tiger Woods didn’t entirely hurt his chances in the British Open.
Better yet, he didn’t hurt anyone in the gallery.
Woods still walked away Friday realizing he made it a little tougher on the weekend at Carnoustie if he wants to end a decade without winning a major. A rugged start, a strong recovery, a few putts for birdie, a few he missed for par, and it added to an even-par 71.
“I could have cleaned up the round a little bit,” he said.
He was tied for 29th, six strokes behind leaders Zach Johnson and Kevin Kisner.
The wildest moment on a wet day in Scotland came on the second hole, when Woods hit his drive well to the right on the side of a dune.
The grass was deep enough that it was certain to twist the club on impact. Woods asked the gallery to move back because he would have to start it to the right with the golf ball well above his feet.
The shot came out hot and right at them. There was no evidence it hit anyone – no one was hurt, anyway – because the ball at least kept going in the rough.
Woods was thankful.
“I was trying to play for the grass to wrap the shaft around there and hit it left, and I was just trying to hold the face open as much as I possibly could. It grabbed the shaft and smothered it,” he said. “I was very, very fortunate that it got far enough down there where I had a full wedge into the green.”
He still made bogey. He made another bogey on the next hole, and just like that he was on the cut line.
Woods answered with a pair of birdies, and it was give-and-take the rest of the way.
The only time he was under par for his round was after a 5-iron easily cleared the Spectacle bunkers on the par-5 14th and rolled onto the green to a front pin, leaving him an 18-foot eagle putt. He missed and made birdie.
Two holes later, he found a pot bunker right of the par-3 16th and made bogey.
And on the final hole, he hit an approach he judged perfectly to about 10 feet pin-high. He missed.
“I played a little bit better (Thursday),” Woods said of his matching scores for the opening two rounds. “Today wasn’t quite as good, but I finally birdied the par 5.”
SANDY LYLE has a green jacket and his name on the claret jug. He might have one other thing in common with Jack Nicklaus – a birdie on what likely was his final hole in the British Open.
This is the final year of eligibility for the 60-year-old Lyle, who played his first British Open in 1974 as a 16-year-old amateur. The only way back is to win the Senior British Open, so the Scot isn’t giving up on it just yet.
Still, there was a lump in his throat walking up the 18th at Carnoustie. And then he holed the putt for birdie, much like Nicklaus when he retired from major championship golf at St. Andrews in 2005.
“I was very light-footed, I know that,” Lyle said. “I was on cloud nine walking down the 18th. It’s quite a spectacular view to come down there. … To make birdie was extra special.”
Lyle began the week with the honor of hitting the first tee shot. He had rounds of 75-76, and now heads to St. Andrews.
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