NORTON, Mass. – Tiger Woods’ opening round at the Dell Technologies Championship got off to an awkward start before he even hit a shot.
Set to begin his round on the 10th tee Friday morning, Woods was introduced by the tournament starter and took his usual practice swing. But as he stepped forward to address his ball, he realized something wasn’t right and returned to his bag to switch clubs.
Woods and caddie Joe LaCava were seen sharing a brief laugh, and after the round Woods shed light on the situation: LaCava had accidentally mixed up the head covers on Woods’ fairway woods during their pre-round practice session.
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“I thought it was a 3-wood out,” Woods said. “But I had a 5-wood out, which I put down there (behind the ball), and I’m like, ‘I can’t hit it that far in the wind, I need a 3-wood.’ So I went back to 3-wood, and that’s why it looked like I switched, because I realized I had the wrong club in my hand.”
As it turned out, perhaps Woods would have been better off sticking with his original club choice. After the brief pump fake, he stepped back to the tee with 3-wood in hand and hit one of his worst shots of the day, a quick hook that flew into a lateral hazard lining the left side of the fairway. After dropping in the rough, he eventually got up and down for an opening bogey.
Woods went on to shoot a 1-over 72, which placed him five shots off the early lead at TPC Boston.
