The Open: Limping Tiger slumps to six-over on return

Tiger Woods endured a miserable return to the British Open as he laboured to a six-over-par 78 at St Andrews on Thursday to leave his chances of making the cut looking slim.

On a course where he has lifted the Claret Jug twice before, Woods’ first appearance at a British Open since 2019 had been highly anticipated.

But the 15-time major winner’s round never recovered from a double-bogey at the first after a poor approach shot found the water.

Woods missed the Open last year due to a car crash in February 2021 that left him requiring major surgery to his right leg.

The physical effects of that accident were evident as he hobbled around the course in a round lasting over six hours on a day marred by slow play.

Only seven in the field shot a worse score than Woods in the first round, leaving one of the game’s all-time greats down in 146th and needing a drastic turnaround on Friday to extend his tournament into the weekend.