Tiger Woods has had a really bad week.
It started last Sunday when his split with Lindsey Vonn was announced — and it continued Saturday when he failed to hit a drive as far as the women’s tee.
The biggest name in golf revealed ahead of the $10 million Players Championship that he has been struggling to sleep in the aftermath of his breakup with the skier, which came on the ninth anniversary of his father’s death.
And it is showing in his game. Woods only made it to the weekend rounds of a tournament known as “the fifth major” after sinking a birdie putt in his final hole on Friday.
He barely made the halfway cut at TPC Sawgrass, but his hopes of contending for the $1.8 million first prize were blown away Saturday after he registered two double-bogeys on par-five holes in the same round of a PGA Tour event for the first time in his career.
The first of those, on the second hole, came after Woods hooked his drive into the trees — it went just 105 yards, failing to reach the fairway or the area where women players would tee off.
The 39-year-old registered another seven at the ninth hole, despite being just short of the green in two strokes.
Woods, who has won the Florida event twice, most recently in 2013, did manage to birdie the par-five 11th hole, and had par at the one at 16th, as he didn’t drop another shot for the rest of his third round.
But the American was near the bottom of the field, and did not talk to the awaiting press after signing for a score of three-over-par 75.
It is his second tournament back after taking a two-month break to get his game and fitness back up to par, and he had shown encouraging signs when tying for 17th at the Masters.
Woods wasn’t the only man to struggle on Saturday.
Fellow U.S. Ryder Cup player Dustin Johnson, who was sixth at the Masters and won the WGC-Cadillac Championship in March, carded a quadruple-bogey eight at the par-four 10th hole. Like Woods, he carded 75 to be three over for the tournament.
Veteran South Africa Ernie Els, a four-time major winner, had a triple-bogey seven at the first hole and a double at the par-three eighth in his 76.
Webb Simpson, the 2012 U.S. Open champion, also had a treble bogey and a double in his 78.
Jordan Spieth, who drew so many parallels to Woods in winning his first major title at Augusta, didn’t even make the halfway cut at the Players, along with veteran Phil Mickelson — who tied for second at the Masters.
Indeed, the halfway leaderboard was dominated by golfers yet to win a major, with Americans Kevin Na and Jerry Kelly sharing top spot on eight under after 36 holes.