Tiger Woods Gets Off To Strong Start At U.S. Open Before Pinehurst Shows Him Its Teeth

With Tiger Woods playing an incredibly limited schedule these days, and this week marking his first start in a U.S. Open since 2020, it was impossible to predict how he would fare at the difficult Pinehurst No. 2.

While there is still a long way to go, so far so good, relatively speaking.

Woods wasted zero time on Thursday morning to show that he still has the tools to compete at the game's highest level.

The 15-time major winner is paired alongside former U.S. Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick and Will Zalatoris for the first two rounds of this year's championship. Woods may be nearing 49 years old, but that didn't stop him from out driving both of his playing partners, who are still in their 20s, on the Par 5 10th hole, their first hole of the day.

What happened next on the 10th hole was much more telling than his opening tee shot.

Woods pushed his second shot well right of the green into the sandy, bush-filled area that guards every fairway at Pinehurst. He was lucky enough to draw an above-average lie, and took advantage by feathering a wedge to around 10 feet. Plenty of players will struggle with the touchy wedge shots from the native area throughout the week, but Woods made it look way too easy.

He stepped up and drained the birdie putt on his opening hole as well.

The putter stayed warm through much of his opening nine holes on Thursday as he holed a few not-so-comfortable par putts before cooling off on the greens before making the turn at 1-over. He also three-putted the first hole to move to 2-over on the day, but the pieces are still very much present that suggest he could be playing the weekend.

Perhaps the most important piece is that Woods is walking around with more swagger, and less limping than we've maybe seen since his car crash in 2021.

Again, there is a long way to go, but Woods is gaining shots off the tee and around the greens thus far in his championship quest. If he can be within a handful of shots after 18 holes on Thursday, that should be considered a win for the big cat.