A day after setting a tournament record in the Masters, Tiger Woods suffered an unwanted milestone at Augusta National.
Woods insisted he could challenge for a 16th major title after playing 23 holes on Friday to make a record 24th consecutive cut, but slumped to a third round of 82 instead.
The 48-year-old’s previous worst scores both came in 2022, when he shot 78 in both the third and fourth rounds.
Woods followed a bogey on the fourth with a superb birdie on the difficult fifth, but then bogeyed the sixth and ran up a double bogey on the seventh.
The 15-time major winner also made a double bogey on the par-five eighth for the first time in his career and dropped another shot on the ninth in a front nine of 42.
Woods made five more bogeys and a birdie on the 13th in a back nine of 40 in what was his 99th round in the Masters.
Asked what the biggest challenge he had faced was, Woods said: “The fact that I was not hitting it very good or putting well.
“I didn’t have a very good warm-up session and I kept it going all day today. Just hit the ball in all the places that I know I shouldn’t hit it. And I missed a lot of putts. Easy, makeable putts. I missed a lot of them.”
Woods, who had played just 24 holes of competitive golf in 2024 before this week, added: “It’s just that I haven’t competed and played much.
“When I had chances to get it flipped around and when I made that putt at five, I promptly three-putted six and flub a chip at seven and just got it going the wrong way, and when I had opportunities to flip it, I didn’t.”
Woods acknowledged he had been worn out by Friday’s marathon day of play, but insisted he would be back for the fourth round.
He added: “My team will get me ready. It will be a long night and a long warm-up session, but we’ll be ready.”
