Zozo Championship: Tiger Woods struggles to reach the opening round 76 | Golf news

Woods tied 75 in the 77-man field after the first round

Tiger Woods’ bid for a historic 83rd PGA Tour title got off to a disappointing start as he struggled to reach 76 in the first round of the Zozo Championship.

Woods, looking to defend his title after last year’s three-shot victory in Japan, fought to 76 in the first round on a low-scoring day at California’s Sherwood Country Club.

The former world number one has won five times at the venue, where it used to host the Hero World Challenge, although he was unable to replicate that success as he fell 12 strokes behind the starting leader.

Starting in the last nine, Woods led off with a pair but had to hit a left-handed shot at par five after an errant tee shot ended behind a tree and without a clear shot.

Woods was forced to dive out of the thick rough and drilled a 10ft to get away with just one bogey, only to double bogey at par five 13 after laying down and then failing to get up and down from a bunker on the green. .

The 15-time Major champion undid some of the damage by birdie from nearly 90 feet on the next, before spraying his tee shot into the water at par five 16 on his way to another bogey.

Woods was unable to convert a birdie opportunity from within 10 feet in the first, but took a shot from a similar distance in the next par five, and the 44-year-old was unable to go up and down to save par in the fourth. . .

Another loose tee shot on the eighth par three saw Woods post another bogey to slide four over the day, before closing out a frustrating day by dropping a 15-foot birdie attempt on the ninth, his last hole, below the objective.

Watch the Zozo Championship all week live on Sky Sports. Live coverage continues Friday with featured groups starting at 6pm via the red button, before full coverage starting at 10pm on Sky Sports Golf.