Palm Beach Gardens, Florida - Tiger Woods struggled to a four-over par 74 in the final round of the Honda Classic on Sunday, ending the week without breaking par once and left saying he need to “clean up” his play.
“I just made too many penalties this week. Today is a perfect example, I didn't play that poorly. I had two water balls and a lost ball,” he told reporters.
“Take those away, and I missed two short birdie putts, and it was actually a decent score. So just got to clean up my rounds,” he added after ending the tournament four-over following even-par rounds of 70 in each of the first three rounds.
In windy conditions, Woods took 33 putts in his round and hit just eight fairways and 12 greens. His round included two double bogeys, four bogeys, two birdies and, on the 18th, an eagle.
On the sixth hole Woods hit his tee shot way right and the ball was lost, forcing him back to the tee, while his other double came on the 11th where he found water.
“I feel good with what I did, though,” he said. “It's just penalty shots. Just got to clean up the rounds. Obviously make a couple more putts and next thing you know, I'm three-under par.
Last year Woods ended the tournament with a sparkling round of 62, which while not enough to catch eventual winner Rory McIlroy, delighted the crowd and indicated a return to form.
Having reached the turn at one-over though, it was clear there was to be no charge from Woods this time.
“Not even close. I think I passed 62 somewhere around 12,” joked Woods.
“It's a tough day. It's more of a day of patience. It's really hard to shoot a low number out here today, even a good one. You can certainly shoot one, two or three-under par for sure.
“But anything lower than that is going to be really, really tough. And if the wind is blowing the ball up on the grain a little bit, it's affecting even chip shots, bunker shots, you pull up in the air, it's moving it. So it's tough out there,” he said. - Reuters