Tiger Woods conceded his back was a tad "stiff" after his opening round of the PGA Championship while Phil Mickelson blamed nerves for his wretched first shot of the day in the 35th overall meeting between the two aging superstars.
In the past when the titans of the game have gone toe-to-toe, constant roars greeting miraculous shot after shot would cascade across whatever venue they were playing. But with neither contestant giving the faithful much to cheer for on Thursday, the face-off between Woods and Mickelson did not exactly spark memories of Ali-Frazier, Bird-Magic, or Nicklaus-Palmer.
In fact, with Woods flailing his way to a 3-over 74 in just his 11th competitive round since March 31 back surgery, and Mickelson turning his less-than-stellar start into a 69, it was more like Brady-Manning in last year’s AFC Championship game and Patriots fans know how that turned out. Similarly, Mickelson, 44, after coming up short early and often at the start of their pas de deux, trails his 38-year-old rival in all-time match-ups by just one game, 16-15-4.
By my count Tiger and Phil have been in the same group 34 times. Tiger owns 16-14-4 advantage in head-to-head score.
— Ryan Lavner (@RyanLavnerGC) August 1, 2014
"It was the first time in a long time I stood on the first tee ... feeling like I had the game to compete and to win this week," Mickelson, who has had almost as bad a season as Woods has up to now, told TNT after finishing an up-and-down round on the upside with three birdies in his final six holes, including one on his 18th.
"I played the first eight holes so bad, I was nervous, I hit the worst shot, the worst swing of the day on the very first tee," said Lefty after getting the better of his adversary in the 11th meeting between the two heavyweights in a major championship. "I blocked it so far left, I got lucky it wasn’t out of bounds and after I made three bogeys and I was 2-over through eight holes I kind of settled down and started to make some good swings and hit some good shots."
Phil before hitting his provisional: "this one has an extra dot." Not a great start. Tiger hit driver up left side into rough. We're off
— Jeff Ritter (@Jeff_Ritter) August 7, 2014
Not so for Woods, who canned his sole birdie with a chip-in on No. 16 and never once winced or grabbed his back in pain but otherwise looked out of sorts at a venue that yielded his 2000 PGA title.
"It wasn't very good. A lot of bad shots and I never got a putt to the hole," said Woods, who returned from his withdrawal from Firestone on Sunday to a hero’s welcome in Louisville on Wednesday afternoon but may be gone again by Friday night. "I didn't play as well as I wanted to, and I didn't get a putt to the hole. That's not a good combo."
Tiger Woods in with a 3-over 74. Tied with club pro Jamie Broce. @ClubProGuy
— No Laying Up (@NoLayingUp) August 7, 2014
It was almost as if the over-the-top hoopla surrounding his arrival in the parking lot, after days of mystery and speculation about what he said was a displaced sacrum he suffered on the second hole of last week’s Bridgestone event, sucked the stuffing out of the 79-time PGA Tour winner.
Tiger's 74 looked like an 80, and I bet it felt like one, too.
— Dan Jenkins (@danjenkinsgd) August 7, 2014
"It’s a little stiff," he said about the state of the world’s most discussed and virtually dissected spine. "But that’s about it."
That may in fact be about it for the latest much-hyped head-to-head rematch between the old rivals (third wheel Padraig Harrington posted a practically invisible 73), Woods’ horrible 11th hole (No. 2 on the scorecard) pretty much a microcosm of his struggles.
Woods made a mess of the outgoing nine with hesitant putting and an incredible display of poor iron play, including a chunked shot that came up some 30 yards short of the green on No. 12. He then made the turn and things went from bad to look-away awful.
After losing his drive off No. 1 way wide of the fairway, into a hazard and managing a bogey 5, Tiger snap-hooked his tee shot on the next hole into another hazard.
Tiger is 65 yards off the fairway at No. 1 pic.twitter.com/yYfysPKoKq
— Brendan Porath (@BrendanPorath) August 7, 2014
Woods, who had appeared frustrated and angry from the outset, banged his club into the ground and let loose with one of his signature expletive-deleteds.
He somehow salvaged another bogey 5, but his round was beyond salvation, and so, too, was the hope for any drama between the tourney’s two main antagonists coming into Thursday.
"We don’t get paired very often so I love it, I think we both really enjoy the opportunity," said Mickelson, who admits that going up against Woods motivates him to play some of his best golf (see: Pebble Beach, Feb. 2012). "We’re always on the opposite end of the spectrum and I love that the PGA [of America, the tourney organizer] put us together. I think that it’s great for the tournament that he’s here."
As for the state of Woods’ game, Mickelson, who heads into Friday’s second round four shots back of 18-hole co-leaders Lee Westwood, Kevin Chappell and Ryan Palmer, was charitable, even compassionate toward his downtrodden foe.
"He showed a lot of heart today because he didn’t have his normal game and he fought hard," said the winner of five major titles. "The second hole, where he hooked it into the water, he hit a great shot and showed a lot of class getting that up and down and making that putt ... It’s hard when you don't have it, when your game isn’t there and today he just didn’t have it. Hopefully tomorrow, it’ll click and he’ll light it up and I’ll try to follow suit."
Woods, who eschewed his usual post-round practice session in favor of treatment for his back, must hope so as well. Because if he plays on Friday as he did on Thursday -- heart or no heart -- there will be no tomorrow until 2015.