It was a dream-come-true-type day minus some of the golf. "It was the coolest frickin' day I've ever had on a golf course," Homa said. The whole first hole, I was kind of having like an out-of-body experience."įor Homa, it was the realization of a childhood dream. "Then all of a sudden, I was, like, holy cow. 1, it was like a sea of people around us," Homa said. "I didn't realize how many people were there until when Tiger got announced on No. Once Woods teed off, some moved on, but returned when they remembered that next up was home hope Matt Fitzpatrick, who won the U.S. It wasn't a case of mere standing room only - it was tiptoes at best, with some resorting to watching it through the zoom on the phone raised in front of them. Even royalty struggled to get a decent view of Woods teeing off - with Prince Albert II of Monaco unable to find his way through the throng to catch a glimpse. One spectator had dyed their hair into a tiger pattern. It felt as if most of the 52,000-strong crowd had gravitated near the R&A Clubhouse to watch that grouping of Woods, Homa and Fitzpatrick tee off at 9:59 a.m. Regardless of how this day went, his star power remains inescapable. And as I said, I had my chances to turn it around and get it rolling the right way and I didn't do it." But I didn't really feel like I hit it that bad, but I ended up in bad spots. "Yes, I did have bad speed on the greens. "It feels like I didn't really hit it that bad," Woods said. You saw Woods crisscross the fairways, finding himself in areas of the course that back in 20 he danced around. But then, on the 11th, he missed a 6-footer and that uneasy feeling returned. Two birdies followed, and the cheers got louder. Something to cling on to, to tell whomever they're closest to that they saw Tiger do that. So by the time Woods approached the ninth tee at 6 over, the expectation from those watching had shifted from hoping to witness the vintage Woods to pleading for him to produce one small piece of magic for the highlight reel. "That was about the only good thing of it taking so long is that you get extra time out there with him," said Matt Fitzpatrick, who was grouped with Woods and Max Homa. Woods' group frequently had to wait at the tee for the green to clear, leading to a 6-hour, 5-minute round. But when his second shot of the round found the Swilcan Burn and we walked to the second already 2 over on the day, it was as if the sky had clouded over. The likes of Justin Thomas and Rory McIlroy had spoken glowingly of how well Woods was hitting the ball. There were echoes of Woods' past everywhere around the Old Course this week, a gloriously optimistic concoction of nostalgia and expectation. As you saw him limping around the course, attempting to roll back the years, there was a feeling you simply had to soak it all in while you could to prepare yourself for the day he can no longer hold back the tide.
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