Tiger Woods admitted his left knee was still bothering him as he returned to action to overcome a poor start and post a one-over-par 72 in Thursday’s opening round of the U.S. Open.
Playing his first competitive round since undergoing surgery after April’s U.S. Masters, Woods countered two double bogeys with three birdies yet looked unsteady at the 18th tee.
“Didn’t feel very good,” said Woods, who had a pained look on his face despite blasting a tee shot over 350 yards down the middle of the fairway and needing only a seven-iron to reach the green on the 573-yard hole.
Woods said before the tournament he would not know he would respond to competition.
“I guess I don’t need a cart yet,” the 32-year-old Woods joked to reporters after walking 18 holes for the first time since he had arthroscopic surgery two days after finishing second at the Masters.
“It’s a little sore.”
Woods said his discomfort was more severe during the Masters than in Thursday’s five-hour tour of Torrey Pines.
“Two totally different pains,” he said. “The cartilage was in there flying around and they took that out. So that relieves it.”
Woods, winner of the 2000 and 2002 U.S. Opens and 11 other major titles, said he is taking anti-inflammatories for his knee and would continue to be treated after the round.
“I’m in good shape,” he said, referring to how his 72 kept him in contention after an inauspicious start.
Woods started with a double bogey after pulling his opening tee shot way left into the rough but was most unhappy about sending his wedge shot over the green.
“I had all the room short of the hole and I fly it past the hole. That’s just a terrible mistake,” he said.
“We’re all going to make mistakes out here.”
World number one Woods, who double-bogeyed again on 14 after driving into a bunker and twice coming up short of the green, said he would go on the attack again on Friday.
“Just go tee it up and go,” Woods said.
