Tiger Woods rallies for 1-over 73, well back at Memorial

When Tiger Woods made the turn on Thursday at Muirfield Village Golf Club, the 14-time major champion appeared destined to post a disaster of a round.

Instead, he rallied on the back nine to turn in 1-over 73 in Round 1 of the Memorial Tournament. However, that score leaves him almost double-digit strokes behind the lead.

Woods got off to a rough start on the 10th hole, pulling his tee shot left — which has become standard-issue for the world No. 172 — and leading to a bogey. He dropped another shot at the par-5 11th when his second shot found the water hazard. After a third bogey, Woods tried to rally, making two birdies in three holes. However, Woods ended the back side with a bogey-double bogey finish to turn in 4-over 40 and conjuring thoughts of another round in the 80s.

The second nine, on the front side at Jack Nicklaus’ Ohio masterpiece, was much cleaner. Woods didn’t drop a shot, making six pars and three birdies to turn in 73.

Despite the flurry to a respectable finish, Woods clearly didn’t have it on Thursday. The stat line: four of 14 greens hit and nine greens hit in regulation.

“I didn’t play very good today at all,” Woods said. “I just didn’t have it today.”

Woods, who has never missed a cut at Memorial, is in search of consistency in good strikes — high and long — and bad ones. Right now, he’s missing both ways off the tee, making it difficult to plod his way around with much confidence.

“Some of the shots I hit were really good. But I also hit some really bad shots,” Woods said. “We’re going to try and eliminate those.”

Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.

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