Tiger Woods starts the PGA Championship with a 1-over 72

Tiger Woods starts the PGA Championship with a 1-over 72

Tiger Woods acknowledges he's competitively rusty compared to most of the PGA Championship field this week, but that doesn't mean he expects any less of himself.

Woods opened the 106th PGA Championship with a 1-over 72, a mixed performance in Louisville, Kentucky. Despite battling through several wayward tee shots, he managed to stay close to par for most of his opening round at Valhalla Golf Club. He found his rhythm midway through his second nine to move into red figures, but closed with back-to-back three-putt bogeys, leaving a sour taste overnight. Woods is 10 strokes behind Xander Schauffele, who set a PGA Championship single-round record with a 9-under 62.

The round resembled his first at last month's Masters (1-over 73), marked by an up-and-down pace but an end result near the projected cut line. Woods followed his first round at the Masters with a second-round 72, making the cut and setting a tournament record with his 24th straight made cut. On Friday, he will aim to make the weekend for a second consecutive major, hoping for a faster start than Thursday, where he was fortunate to escape his first three holes at just 1 over before finding his flow.

"It took me probably three holes to get back into the competitive flow and get a feel for hitting the ball out there in competition, with the adrenaline, temperatures, and green speeds," Woods said after his opening round. "These are all things I usually adjust to very quickly, but it just took me a few holes this time.

"I am getting stronger for sure... Each day is a little bit different. Some days, it's better than others. It's just the way it is. My body is just that way. Some days, it feels great, and other days, it's a bit of a struggle."

Woods' history echoes throughout the grounds at Valhalla, where his 2000 PGA Championship victory (outlasting Bob May in a three-hole playoff) marked the third leg of the "Tiger Slam," completed at the 2001 Masters. Woods won the 2000 U.S. Open and The Open by a combined 23 shots before May gave him all he could handle for 75 holes at Valhalla. It might be a tall task to expect Woods to hoist another Wanamaker Trophy this weekend, but making the cut for a second straight major championship is certainly within reach.

"I think I've made a few cuts in a row, what was it, 140-some odd," Woods said Thursday. "So you have to just grind it out. It's a marathon. Major championships are a long grind. It's just plotting along. It's not a sprint; it's just a grind.

"You can't win a tournament unless you make the cut. That's the whole idea: get to the weekend so that you can participate and have a chance to win. I've been on the cut number and have won tournaments, or I've been ahead and leading tournaments and won. But you have to get to the weekend to win a golf tournament."

Read below for hole-by-hole updates from Woods' opening round at the 106th PGA Championship.

**1:25 p.m.:** It's a disappointing finish for Woods, who closes his round with a second straight three-putt bogey. He splits the fairway off the tee at the dogleg-right, 411-yard par 4, leaving just 144 yards to the hole, but his approach lands 34 feet from the pin. He leaves his birdie putt 6 feet short and can't convert to save par. This means a 1-over 72 for Woods, featuring some good and some bad. He'll still be within striking distance of the cut line at Valhalla, but he's 10 strokes behind early leader Xander Schauffele, who set a PGA Championship single-round scoring record with a 9-under 62.

**1:10 p.m.:** Woods plays to the front-left portion of the 169-yard, par-3 eighth, but his birdie putt goes well past the hole, leaving a lengthy par attempt from 10 feet, which he can't convert. Just like that, after reaching red numbers for the first time on the previous hole, he's back to level par for the day. One hole remains.

**12:55 p.m.:** After a solid two-putt par from 54 feet at the staunch par-4 sixth, Woods solves the double-fairway, par-5 seventh. He plays to the left fairway off the tee, hits a 238-yard second shot into the right greenside bunker (a conservative line with danger flanking the left side), and gets up-and-down with a birdie from 13 feet. 

For the first time today, Woods is under par. It's a testament to his resilience after a shaky start, and his body appears to be holding up respectably. He's 1 under for the opening round with two holes to play. He's eight off the pace of leader Xander Schauffele, but the 15-time major champion is tied for 17th on the leaderboard, comfortably inside the projected cut line.