It’s safe to say Tiger Woods will not be repeating his Zozo Championship victory from a year ago.
Woods shot a one-under 71 to go into the clubhouse at three-under overall in a tie for 68th place, 16 strokes behind leader Justin Thomas.
A day after turning in his best round of the 2020 calendar year, Woods could not find luck with his putter. He hit 69.2 percent of his fairways and 72.2 of his greens in regulation but missed several mid-range putts that could have given him a stronger round.
Scores remain low for the field at large at Sherwood Country Club, with nearly half of the field at 10 under or better. This would have been a perfect tournament for Woods to build momentum into next month’s Masters Tournament, but he’s not been able to get himself together in two of the three rounds.
His opening-round 76 was tied for the second worst of any player in the entire event, and Saturday’s scuffle to 71 will be in the bottom half once leaders get done with their day.
Woods only carded two bogeys against three birdies but parred 13 times, which is not good enough of a performance on a course playing into the players’ hands. He missed four birdie putts within 16 feet, and while none of those were necessarily easy makes, they’re ones a large sect of the field have drained as the weekend progresses.
While the putter will be his focus, Woods will need to tighten his irons to get himself in a better position for birdie rather than two-putts.
Tiger will have to find a rhythm to his game in the final round Sunday to have any positives to take from this event entering the Masters.
