AUSTIN, Texas — Tiger Woods appeared very much out of the 10th hole on Thursday during his match with Brandt Snedeker, when he sailed his approach at the par 4 into a bush behind the green.
As Snedeker was looking over a 30-footer for birdie, Woods got down on his knees in the dirt, turned his club upside down, and started rehearsing left-handed swings from under the branches.
“[I was] waiting to be 2-up on [11] tee,” Snedeker said. “I thought it was over. I thought he was wasting his time over there.”
After a couple practice swings, Woods played this kneeling, left-handed, upside-down chip to 5 feet.
From his knees.
Left-handed.
In the bushes.@TigerWoods has ALL the shots. #LiveUnderPar pic.twitter.com/dmyexHvqr7— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 28, 2019
“It’s just the kind of stuff he pulls,” Snedeker continued, laughing. “I don’t know what he did. I don’t know how he got that up-and-down. Nobody else would probably even try to hit it. And somehow he hits it out to 5 feet.”
Woods and Snedeker ended up tying the hole. When they did get to 11 tee, with the match still 1 up, Snedeker couldn’t help but comment.
“I told him on the next tee, ‘I might have rethink how I do match play, because I played that second shot according to you being in the junk.’ And I actually had a harder par, it turned out, than he did,” Snedeker said, referring to the 4-footer he needed to hole so as not to lose to a guy who just played left-handed from a bush.
Snedeker eventually closed out Woods on the 17th green, 2 and 1, but he could only enjoy the victory so much. He still needs a win Friday to guarantee a trip to the Round of 16. That, and he probably spoiled his family’s afternoon.
“I bet you my kids were probably rooting for [Tiger] late in the round,” he said.
