Tiger Woods PGA Championship tracker: Follow Tiger on Day 1 at Southern Hills

Tiger Woods returns to major golf at the PGA Championship. (David Cannon/Getty Images)
Tiger Woods returns to major golf at the PGA Championship. (David Cannon/Getty Images) (David Cannon via Getty Images)

Tiger Woods is playing his second major this week after his catastrophic February 2021 car wreck. At the Masters in April, he fared well, making the cut but clearly struggling by the end of the weekend. How will he do at the PGA Championship at Southern Hills? Follow along with us as we track his first day.

Hole 10, 376 yards, par 4

Woods teed off from the 10th hole at 9:11 a.m. Eastern alongside Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth. The last of the three to walk onto the tee box, Woods arrived to a raucous greeting. Before a gallery at least 20 deep, all three found the fairway off the tee. Woods' drive ran 339 yards off the tee, and his approach ended just over three feet from the cup. Woods rolled in the putt for an opening birdie.

Score: -1, T3 overall

Hole 11, 173 yards, par 3

On the first par 3 of the day, Woods found the green off the tee. His 32-foot putt ended up within a foot of the cup; Woods tapped in for his first par.

Score: -1, T4 overall

Hole 12, 461 yards, par 4

Woods lashed a classic stinger to the elbow of the dogleg left, leaving himself 201 yards to the pin. His approach was simple but effective, right onto the green with about 20 feet to go for birdie. The putt ran just past the hole, and Woods — after a creaky bend to mark his ball — tapped in for par.

Score: -1, T6 overall

Hole 13, 632 yards, par 5

On the tee box of the monstrous par 5, Woods, McIlroy and Spieth had to wait for the 12th green to clear; the layout of Southern Hills for tournament play means that many of the tee boxes and greens are right on top of one another. Woods unleashed a 353-yard driver off the tee, and laid up to the heavily-guarded green. Eighty-five yards out from the pin, Woods had his first bad shot of the day. He bounced over the green and ended up above the pin and in the gritty sand. He worked his magic from the bunker, punching up to within two feet of the cup for an easy par putt.

Score: -1, T6 overall

Hole 14, 230 yards, par 3

Woods spent the downtime waiting on the 14th tee box digging through Spieth's bag, which seems like a terrible idea for Spieth. After a bit of banter, all three ended up on the green. Woods banged in a 14-foot birdie putt to gain another stroke on the field.

Score: -2, T3 overall

Hole 15, 417 yards, par 4

Woods' stinger off the tee slipped away from him and ended up in the rough along the right side of the fairway. His approach ended up in a greenside bunker, and he wedged the ball well past the pin. His long par putt skirted past the hole, and he ended up dropping the stroke he'd just picked up.

Score: -1, T11 overall

Hole 16, 522 yards, par 4

Woods played a respectable 320-yard driver off the tee, and his approach ended about 20 feet from the pin. A long birdie putt again zipped past the hole, but Woods was able to save par.

Score: -1, T10 overall

Hole 17, 371 yards, par 4

After a strong iron to start, Woods danced along the edge of disaster when his approach skipped right over two of the greenside bunkers. Woods' putt out of the fringe ended just a couple rotations short of the hole, and he tapped in for par.

Score: -1, T12 overall

Hole 18, 490 yards, par 4

The brutal finishing hole — or hole at the turn, for Woods and his fellow 10th-hole starters — will loom large later in the weekend. Woods expertly played a strong crosswind drive, but his approach was just terrible, skipping off the green and sliding into an upside bunker. He angled the ball around the edge of the green to try to avoid rolling back off the green, and was unable to get the par putt to drop. He ended the first nine where he began: at even par.

Score: E, T20

Hole 1, 451 yards, par 4

Woods began his second nine with another solid drive, 339 yards to the right side of the fairway. He laid up on his approach, and his chip came in hot. He missed the comebacker and posted his second straight bogey.

Score: +1, T32

Hole 2, 480 yards, par 4

The touch began to fade. Woods' approach narrowly eluded a bunker, and his chip glanced at the hole and kept on going. Again he misjudged the green, and again another bogey on the card. The round is starting to slip away.

Score: +2, T45

Hole 3, 444 yards, par 4

Woods reversed the landslide with a firm, controlled hole — drive, iron, putt — that knocked off one of those three bogeys. He walked off the green with purpose, and without a limp.

Score: +1, T36

Hole 4, 377 yards, par 4

Another bunker, another utter mess made of a hole. Woods again struggled with the gritty bunker sand, and missed yet another birdie putt. Another square on the card.

Score: +2, T43

Hole 5, 656 yards, par 5

The second of two par 5s on the course marked one of the few opportunities for Woods to edge his way back into red numbers. He worked a crafty approach shot around a tree, remaining short of the greenside bunkers. He gave himself a long birdie chance, but wasn't able to convert.

Score: +2, T40

Hole 6, 226 yards, par 3

As the round wore on, Woods began moving a touch more gingerly, bending down slowly to read putts. Even as Spieth continued to struggle, Woods stayed steady on the sixth, rolling in an easy par putt.

Score: +2, T36

Hole 7, 443 yards, par 4

After nearly getting beaned by a drive off another hole, Woods put his approach into the bunker ... but managed to get up and down for another par save.

Score: +2, T44

Hole 8, 249 yards, par 3

Woods clearly winced on his tee shot, which ended in a greenside bunker. The struggle grew more pronounced; he flew his chip, leaving himself a 41-foot par putt that he missed. The bogey comebacker still had meat on the bone, but he was able to drop it.

Score: +3, T63

Hole 9, 395 yards, par 3

Woods enjoyed a bit of good luck with his final stinger of the day; he knocked his tee shot off a tree and the ball kicked right back into the fairway. But he wasn't able to get out of the fringe on a chip, and stumbled to another bogey.

Final score: +4, T82

Verdict: Woods started out extremely well, and spent time just one stroke off the lead. But he struggled throughout the second nine, and will have to work to make the weekend. The immediate question: how badly Woods is hurting after the round.

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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Follow him on Twitter at @jaybusbee or contact him at jay.busbee@yahoo.com.

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