Follow Tiger Woods with shot-by-shot updates on Thursday at the 2022 PGA Championship at Southern Hills

The chase to catch Jack Nicklaus’ major championship record is off and running as Tiger goes fairway metal off the tee and finds the short stuff with his first swing of the day. The Big Cat threw this one high in the air and perfectly lands it just a few feet in front of the pin. Can’t do it any better than that, folks. No doubt about this one, straight putt from just a couple feet and that’s an opening birdie. Here we go.

TIGER ON THE DAY: 1 under thru 1

Dialed in early.@TigerWoods | #PGAChamp pic.twitter.com/3G9mL1fSy6

— PGA Championship (@PGAChampionship) May 19, 2022

Didn’t love this one but he’s right where I am at a wedding, in the middle of the dance floor. From just outside 30 feet Tiger had the right pace but just didn’t match the line, almost rolling his ball over Spieth’s ballmarker. No worries here, simple two-putt par and we’re on to the next.

TIGER ON THE DAY: 1 under thru 2

It’s not even 10 a.m. ET and we’re already seen Tiger’s patented low-flying stinger off the tee, this time on the par-4 12th. Fairway. Useful. The stinger went 273 yards, leaving 188 to the pin. His playing partners each hit driver and both are a good 70-plus yards ahead of him in the fairway. Wild scene. Pretty smooth so far as he flights this one just over the hole, leaving another 20 or so feet for birdie. Tried to curl this one in but just had too much pace and misses by a couple inches on the pro side. Tap-in birdie. Solid start so far.

TIGER ON THE DAY: 1 under thru 3

Tiger pulls driver for the first time today, picked up the tee real quick and looked after this one with a smile. Left side of the fairway. Looks really confident right now. Some tree branches leaning in the line of flight to the green means Tiger has to lay this one up a bit further out to the right, which he does. Tiger is known for taking his time in majors and attacking at the opportune time, and this par 5 could be one of those times. Well, this was really bad. From 85 yards out he just airmails this one into a back bunker. This hole went from easy birdie to scramble for par real quick. After the blown approach Tiger does well with his out and leaves inside three feet for par, which he converts. Cross off “sand save” on your Tiger Bingo card.

TIGER ON THE DAY: 1 under thru 4

The second par 3 of the back nine and this one is a BEAST. 221 yards. Six bunkers surrounding the green. Undulations galore. Have fun, fellas. After a 10-minute wait on the tee, the boys are finally playing again. Tiger just gets his shot to climb the false front of the green and he rolls it just inside Spieth to set up yet another birdie putt. This could be a really fun round. Oh boy here we go, don’t let him get hot. Tiger rolled this one in, center of the cup, for his second birdie of the day. There is zero pulp in his juice today.

TIGER ON THE DAY: 2 under thru 5

Birdie number two on the day for Tiger.@TigerWoods | #PGAChamp pic.twitter.com/5JHRcdAn2N

— PGA Championship (@PGAChampionship) May 19, 2022

Alright stop, stinger time. Another low-flying iron on the 405-yard par 4 and he loses this one right into the thick rough. That’s a rare, puzzling miss with arguably his most consistent shot. Will be interesting to see him play from the thick stuff for the first time today. More bunkers guarding this green at all angles and Tiger drops this one into the front trap. Tough to control distance and get clean contact from a lie lack that, time to scramble again. He’s got every inch of 20 feet for par left after a less than stellar out from the bunker. This one had some serious pace going downhill but just misses to the right. That’s the first dropped shot of the day.

TIGER ON THE DAY: 1 under 6

Driver off the tee here and he finds the fairway, just a few feet short of a bunker. He couldn’t have dropped this one closer to the trap. His approach was pretty solid, landing in the middle of the green, and running pin-high to the back-right hole. That’s another 20 footer for birdie. He’s missed his last 3 from his distance, all on the high side. Ran that same play this time, missing high and left to leave another tap-in par.

TIGER ON THE DAY: 1 under 7

The stinger show continues here and unlike his last cut with the long iron, this one finds the fairway. Get used to seeing that this week. His approach misses just left on the fringe, but still leaves just 15 feet to the pin. Not his best effort but not bad either. Just misses and, stop me if you heard this one before, but that’s a tap-in par.

TIGER ON THE DAY: 1-under thru 8

YAHTZEE! Tiger went full send with the driver and launches this one 323 yards, leaving just over 160 to the pin. Yikes. After a bad swing he takes a Sergio in the bunker-esque swipe at his divot as his ball flies into a back bunker, leaving a downhill, downwind shot from the beach. No pressure. This was a goofy looking shot that ended up okay. He had to play this one well out to the left, landing it on the fringe and spinning it to the side, where it tried to hold on to the edge of the green before running off. Gave his par putt a really good roll but just couldn’t pair the pasta with the sauce. That’s a bad bogey after a great tee shot. On to the front nine!

TIGER ON THE DAY: Even thru 9

Driver here misses to the right and finds the rough, just a few feet from the base of a tree. He took his medicine and simply kicks this one up the fairway to set up a chance to get up-and-down for par to stop the bogey bleeding. From just 40 yards out he wanted to get this one closer, leaving a testy 15 footer for par, which just misses the cup. Consecutive bogeys with compounded mistakes.

TIGER ON THE DAY: 1 over thru 10.

Well, he did it again. After another perfect shot off the tee, Tiger blows it on the approach, this time just finding the edge of the green near the front half with a back middle pin placement. He’ll have a lot of green to cover from there, will be interesting to see how he plays this one. He takes the cover off and we’re going with putter. This one had some serious heat and was rolling right for the cup before a slight move had it miss on the right edge. Nope, that one doesn’t drop and that’s three straight bogeys.

TIGER ON THE DAY: 2 over thru 11

Driver. Fairway. Not as far as Jordan and Rory but still in a good spot. I’d say that’s a great swing to kickstart some momentum but he’s made mistakes from the fairway already today. Let’s see what he’s got now. That’s more like it. Hits a beauty of an approach to the front pin and checks it up within five feet. Needs that to go for a much-needed bounceback birdie, and it does. That’ll stop the bleeding.

TIGER ON THE DAY: 1 over thru 12

Another iron off the tee and this one leaked just a bit left, finding the rough. He plays that shot to avoid the rough and find fairways when it gets narrow, but this is the second time he’s missed the fairway with an iron (the first went right). And just like when he missed to the right, is approach comes up short playing from the thick stuff and nestles into a bunker guarding the front. Absolutely zero spin coming out of that bunker and he lands the ball on the green then watches it roll off the green and back into some thick rough. From there he’s chipping into a false front, and he does well to pop this one out and make it stop inside five feet. That’s still a testy putt just to get out with bogey, and he converts. Gets one back, gives it back right away.

TIGER ON THE DAY: 2 over thru 13

Tiger pulls driver and smoked this one down the fairway. He’s hit some really good drives, but keeps getting dunked on by Rory, who is consistently a couple dozen yards ahead in the fairway. With a tree overhanging into his line of play, Tiger has to hit a big, sweeping left-to-right shot to go around the tree and lay up further down the fairway. Smart choice, not much more he could do from there. Another pretty solid approach here finds the green, leaving a 16-footer for birdie. Must be tough for Tiger to watch Rory make every single putt he faces while Tiger misses another birdie chance, this time on the amateur side. Par. Nothing to see here. What’s that old MTV dating show? Next.

TIGER ON THE DAY: 2 over thru 14

The pin here at No. 6 is off to the left and Tiger went flag hunting for this one. Looks like he either tugged it just a bit left, or maybe the wind took it, either way he just misses the green and finds the fringe, pin-high, you guessed it, 20 feet away. Left his putt short from the fringe but cleans up the par. The tale of Tiger’s two nines are completely different stories. It’s like the front was a happy children’s book and the back has been a manuscript from the latest Jordan Peele or M. Night Shyamalan.

TIGER ON THE DAY: 2 over thru 15

Fore right! Right of right. Tiger left himself hanging with this shot, and from the right rough he has a big tree to either go over or hook under. He went with the latter and played a low shot and moved left-to-right around the trees and back to the fairway, eventually running into a bunker. Third time now he’s missed off the tee and been penalized by the rough on an approach. He continues to grind as he hits an almost perfect third shot from the bunker to get within a couple feet and earn his second sand save of the round.

All that said … what’s the next step beyond a hitch in the giddy up? Because that’s where the Cat is. You can tell he’s got some discomfort and it’s showing in that right leg.

TIGER ON THE DAY: 2 over thru 16

Oh wow, yeah he’s in some pain. Tiger almost lost his balance on the follow through here at the par-3 8th as he misses the fairway short and right in a bunker. Dude is counting down the minutes until he can get off that leg. Not really sure what to say about his second shot other than … nope. Unlike the last hole, he didn’t have any sort of touch as this one releases well past the hole, leaving a lengthy uphill putt leaving a good 70 feet to the hole for par. Had to give this one some pace to reach the hole but like a baby with a full bladder, just gave it too much juice. Tiger cleans up his sixth bogey of the day and slowly makes the walk to the 18th tee.

TIGER ON THE DAY: 3 over thru 17