Tiger Woods faces trouble at PGA Championship

Tiger Woods slammed his golf club on the ground in fury on the ninth hole of the first round.

Following that, he walked up to the green with a more evident limp than earlier in the day, finally making a bogey on the hole, kicking off a run of three consecutive bogeys.

Woods struggled in the first round of the PGA Championship, carding a 74, nine strokes behind overnight leader Rory McIlroy, as he continues his comeback from devastating leg injuries sustained in a car accident last year.

“My leg isn’t feeling as good as I’d like it to,” Woods said afterward to the press.

“We’ll get started on the healing process tomorrow. I just can’t get it to load. Loading, pressing off, walking, and twisting are all painful. It’s all about golf. If I don’t play it, I’ll be fine.”

Woods’ round started off well, with two birdies and three pars in the first five holes, until his leg began to bother him and he finished the day at 4-over par.

He only hit three greens in his last 13 holes, making six bogeys, and frequently misread his bunker shots.

“It seemed like all the bunker shots came out scorching,” Woods remarked. “The sand is moving far faster than I anticipated.”

“It’s been like that for the past week, especially if you get up in the sections that aren’t mowed… Sometimes I feel like the sand — I assume, and I guess wrong.”

Woods appeared to arrive at the Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa with a cautious approach, opting to iron off the tee like the rest of his star-studded group, including Rory McIlroy and Jordan Speith, hit with drives.

While McIlroy averaged 331 yards off the tee, Woods only averaged 293.4 yards, ranking him 136th out of 156 players.

“It’s just a different game,” Woods explained.

“I’m aware that it’s become considerably more violent. But I was staying in my comfort zone. I would have been alright if I had struck the ball solidly on those two holes and put the ball in the fairway.”

On Friday, Woods will begin the second round at 2:36 p.m. ET.