SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. (AP) — As Tiger Woods stood in the middle of the first fairway, the last thing on his mind was a 7.
That number was the first thing on his scorecard Thursday in the U.S. Open.
It didn’t get better on his way to another ugly number, a first-round 78.
“I just didn’t get off to a good start,” Woods said. “I drove good most of the day, just didn’t do much from there. I just didn’t putt well.”
It wasn’t his worst opener in this tournament. Woods shot an 80 at Chambers Bay three years ago, his most recent U.S. Open before back surgeries sidelined him.
Woods rallied by playing the rest of the front nine at 1-under par. After that, his putting fluctuated from spotty to just plain bad, including four putts on the 13th.
“It was not very good,” he said of unlucky No. 13. “I was worried about running the (first) putt by, it would be downhill (coming back). I blocked the next one, (and) blocked the next one. It was not very good.”
Nope, it wasn’t. Shinnecock Hills pushed him around the way it did so many other top names and supposed contenders. A 15th major championship and first in 10 years appears beyond improbable for the greatest golfer of his generation.
Woods was nine strokes out of the lead, in the company of Phil Mickelson (7-over-80), Jordan Spieth (8 over), Jason Day (9 over) and Rory McIlroy (10 over).
“I think he played better than he scored,” said playing partner Dustin Johnson, who finished the day in a four-way tie for the lead at 1 under. “Obviously he got off to a rough start, but I felt like he hung in there pretty good.”
With the fairways and greens lined a half-dozen deep in spots for the marquee threesome of Johnson, Woods and Justin Thomas, there never was a shortage of encouraging shouts of “Tiger!” There were audible groans, though, on the opening hole with each of his subsequent shots.
Woods airmailed the green on his approach and it went down a steep hill into light rough. His pitch got onto the green, but not nearly far enough to stay there, and rolled back down the hill a few steps to the left of where Woods had been.
Showing no signs of frustration, he switched to a putter for his fourth shot, but that didn’t come close to remaining on the putting surface, either.
A spectator said “guaranteed this one isn’t short” as Woods hit shot No. 5. It wasn’t, but he left himself with about 10 feet for 6, and his putt brushed the hole.
When Woods went over the par-3 second green with his tee shot, a long, unproductive day seemed imminent. He putted again, getting to 6 feet, but pushed the putt.
Two holes and 4 over on one of the world’s most difficult courses in as tough a tournament to win as any.
Then Woods steadied. He never looked like a three-time U.S. Open winner — most recently in 2008 — but he played the rest of the front side in 1 under.
After Woods set the putter down behind his ball on the 10th green, he backed away when the ball moved. Under new rules, it’s no longer a penalty, but he called over a rules official to make sure. Then he replaced the ball and made the putt for par.
Then it got really ugly, and the frustration began to show with blown putt after blown putt.
He bogeyed the difficult par-3 11th after hitting into the bunker and leaving his next shot well short of the pin. The four-putt was next, on the 13th. Another double bogey on the next hole saw Woods walking slowly off the green, seemingly beaten by Shinnecock’s harsh greens and his failing putter.
“We thought there were probably seven to nine birdie-able holes out there, but that changed dramatically with the wind blowing and where they put these pins,” Woods said. “It was pretty evident nobody was making birdies and there were plenty of bogeys.
“My game plan was not to make any ‘others,”’ he added of anything above a bogey. “I made three of them.”
Despite the poor putting and the high opening number, Woods expressed optimism that he’s still in contention. Of course, he’ll need a total turnaround from Thursday’s outing.
“Just shoot something in the 60s tomorrow and I will be fine,” he said. “I think today was the toughest day we will have all week.”
He’d better hope so.

 

U.S. Open Scores
Thursday
At Shinnecock Hills Golf Club
Southampton, N.Y.
Purse: $12 million
Yardage: 7,445; Par: 70 (35-35)
First Round
a-denotes amateur
Scott Piercy 35-34 — 69
Ian Poulter 33-36 — 69
Russell Henley 32-37 — 69
Dustin Johnson 33-36 — 69
Jason Dufner 34-36 — 70
Matthieu Pavon 35-36 — 71
Justin Rose 35-36 — 71
Charles Howell 35-36 — 71
Charley Hoffman 37-34 — 71
Sam Burns 37-34 — 71
Henrik Stenson 33-38 — 71
Byeong Hun An 34-37 — 71
Brendan Steele 35-37 — 72
Patrick Rodgers 37-35 — 72
Mickey DeMorat 36-36 — 72
Xander Schauffele 36-36 — 72
Alex Noren 37-35 — 72
Brandt Snedeker 37-35 — 72
Eric Axley 34-39 — 73
Paul Casey 36-37 — 73
Zach Johnson 36-37 — 73
Patrick Reed 38-35 — 73
Andrew Johnston 36-37 — 73
Matthew Fitzpatrick 35-38 — 73
Rickie Fowler 36-37 — 73
Russell Knox 38-35 — 73
a-Luis Gagne 37-36 — 73
Chris Naegel 38-35 — 73
Brian Gay 33-40 — 73
Ryan Fox 37-36 — 73
Rafa Cabrera Bello 35-38 — 73
Pat Perez 36-37 — 73
Steve Stricker 37-36 — 73
Jim Furyk 35-38 — 73
Si Woo Kim 35-38 — 73
a-Will Grimmer 38-35 — 73
a-Matt Parziale 39-35 — 74
Aaron Baddeley 39-35 — 74
Louis Oosthuizen 38-36 — 74
Brian Harman 34-40 — 74
Matt Kuchar 33-41 — 74
Marc Leishman 37-37 — 74
Shubhankar Sharma 36-38 — 74
Justin Thomas 36-38 — 74
Brian Stuard 38-36 — 74
Jimmy Walker 38-37 — 75
Patrick Cantlay 37-38 — 75
Brooks Koepka 36-39 — 75
Tyrrell Hatton 37-38 — 75
Danny Willett 39-36 — 75
Kevin Chappell 36-39 — 75
Hideki Matsuyama 36-39 — 75
Calum Hill 36-39 — 75
Dean Burmester 38-37 — 75
Peter Uihlein 34-41 — 75
Roberto Castro 38-37 — 75
Tony Finau 39-36 — 75
Luke List 36-39 — 75
Sergio Garcia 36-39 — 75
Tommy Fleetwood 37-38 — 75
Francesco Molinari 36-39 — 75
Kyle Stanley 38-37 — 75
Shane Lowry 36-39 — 75
Chez Reavie 38-37 — 75
Cameron Wilson 38-37 — 75
Chesson Hadley 37-39 — 76
Jhonattan Vegas 37-39 — 76
Mackenzie Hughes 38-38 — 76
Branden Grace 37-39 — 76
Daniel Berger 36-40 — 76
Bryson DeChambeau 39-37 — 76
Thorbjorn Olesen 35-41 — 76
Bill Haas 39-37 — 76
Lanto Griffin 36-40 — 76
Sungjae Im 38-38 — 76
Tim Wilkinson 38-38 — 76
Matthew Jones 40-36 — 76
a-Chun An Yu 37-39 — 76
Ted Potter 39-37 — 76
Richy Werenski 36-40 — 76
Ollie Schniederjans 37-39 — 76
Emiliano Grillo 38-38 — 76
Webb Simpson 35-41 — 76
Kiradech Aphibarnrat 37-39 — 76
Ross Fisher 38-38 — 76
a-Braden Thornberry 39-37 — 76
David Gazzolo 38-38 — 76
Matthew Southgate 38-39 — 77
Tyler Duncan 39-38 — 77
Alexander Levy 38-39 — 77
Bubba Watson 39-38 — 77
Phil Mickelson 38-39 — 77
Matthew Wallace 39-38 — 77
Dylan Meyer 41-36 — 77
Aaron Wise 39-38 — 77
Richie Ramsay 36-41 — 77
Lucas Glover 34-43 — 77
Kevin Kisner 35-42 — 77
Sebastian Vazquez 37-40 — 77
Michael Miller 37-40 — 77
Michael Putnam 41-37 — 78
Jason Scrivener 38-40 — 78
Dylan Frittelli 36-42 — 78
Jordan Spieth 39-39 — 78
Cole Miller 39-39 — 78
a-Tyler Strafaci 39-39 — 78
Ryan Evans 38-40 — 78
Paul Waring 40-38 — 78
Jon Rahm 39-39 — 78
Ernie Els 39-39 — 78
Tiger Woods 38-40 — 78
Adam Scott 39-39 — 78
Christopher Babcock 38-40 — 78
Harold Varner 37-42 — 79
Trey Mullinax 38-41 — 79
David Bransdon 42-37 — 79
a-Doug Ghim 41-38 — 79
Jason Day 40-39 — 79
Charl Schwartzel 40-39 — 79
Tom Lewis 37-42 — 79
Wenchong Liang 37-42 — 79
Gary Woodland 38-41 — 79
Kenny Perry 40-39 — 79
Graeme McDowell 39-40 — 79
Cameron Smith 39-40 — 79
Haotong Li 37-42 — 79
Rikuya Hoshino 37-42 — 79
Scott Stallings 38-42 — 80
Sebastian Munoz 37-43 — 80
Will Zalatoris 40-40 — 80
a-Harry Ellis 37-43 — 80
Rory McIlroy 38-42 — 80
a-Rhett Rasmussen 41-39 — 80
Satoshi Kodaira 39-42 — 81
a-Jacob Bergeron 38-43 — 81
a-Kristoffer Reitan 41-40 — 81
a-Shintaro Ban 41-40 — 81
Sung Joon Park 40-41 — 81
a-Noah Goodwin 38-43 — 81
Keegan Bradley 39-42 — 81
James Morrison 41-40 — 81
a-Stewart Hagestad 39-42 — 81
Sulman Raza 42-40 — 82
Shota Akiyoshi 39-43 — 82
a-Ryan Lumsden 39-43 — 82
a-Philip Barbaree 37-45 — 82
a-Franklin Huang 40-42 — 82
a-Garrett Rank 41-42 — 83
Martin Kaymer 43-40 — 83
Adam Hadwin 44-39 — 83
Lucas Herbert 41-42 — 83
a-Timothy Wiseman 42-41 — 83
a-Theo Humphrey 45-39 — 84
Michael Block 40-45 — 85
Michael Hebert 45-42 — 87
Scott Gregory 47-45 — 92