Tiger Woods struggles with swing, shoots 73 to open the Memorial

 

DUBLIN, Ohio (AP) – Tiger Woods stuck with a swing that wasn't working and settled into a long week at the Memorial. 

 

And maybe a long year. 

 

Woods had to scramble on the front nine to salvage a 1-over 73 in the opening round Thursday at Muirfield Village, a strong fight and reasonable score though still nowhere near the lead. 

 

Woods, playing for only the second time since his return at the Masters, was all over the course where he has won five times. 

 

He made bogey on his opening hole of a PGA Tour event for the eighth time in his past nine events. He blocked a tee shot so far right on the 18th that it went out of bounds, and then hit a duck-hook with a 3-wood on the first hole and scrambled for par. 

 

Woods, at age 39, is making more changes to his swing and was sticking to them regardless of the scores on his card. 

 

"I was just trying to stay committed to what we're working on, to what we're doing," he said. "I hit it awful, yeah. So what? I was going to go through this phase and stick with it, keep sticking with it. And some of the shots I hit were really, really good. But then I also had some really bad shots, too. And we need to work on that." 

 

And he did, heading to the practice range to pound drivers. 

 

MORE: Woods kicks off busiest stretch of golf of year | Woods checks out U.S. Open venue

 

Woods grabbed the most attention for two reasons. He's Tiger Woods, still enough to attract the biggest gallery. And there remains a mystery about the game of a 79-time PGA Tour winner who has plunged to No. 172 in the world. 

 

Woods has worked with Chris Como since last November, and said they implemented more changes since The Players. 

 

Most intriguing about his assessment of Thursday's round was a stubbornness to see the changes to a conclusion, no matter how long that takes. 

 

Como is the fourth instructor he has used as a pro, and this would be his fifth swing change (two under Butch Harmon). Previous changes have taken as long as 18 months for Woods to figure it out. Time is no longer on his side, however, not at his age and with five surgeries behind him. 

 

"I've gone through phases like this, rounds like this, where yeah, it's easy to revert back and go ahead and hit some old pattern," he said. "But it doesn't do you any good going forward. And I've done it. Sometimes it's taken me about a year and then it kicked in and I did pretty good after that. ... If you believe in it, do it. And eventually it will start turning. 

 

"And when it turns, I've had periods where I've played good for four or five years, where I've won close to 20 tournaments in that stretch." 

 

Woods could have been a lot worse off except for a bogey-free front nine with three birdies. It was hard work for one day, not to lead but to hang on. 

 

"Physically, I feel good. Mentally, I feel beat up," Woods said. "To turn that round around like I did today ... that was hard." 

 

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