(Tulsa) Tiger Woods posted the worst card of his PGA Championship career on Saturday after hitting two balls into a water hazard and committing five consecutive bogeys for the first time in a Grand Slam tournament for a score of 79 (plus-9) at Southern Hills.
Posted at 2:48 p.m.
He went 10 more shots than his result the day before, when he narrowly avoided the ax for the weekend rounds, and is now plus-12 overall through the first three rounds.
Woods erased some of his deficit on the back nine on Saturday, posting a minus-1 overall over the last five holes. Then, when he wedged a 36-foot putt for his only birdie of the round at 15and hole, a par-4, he finally smiled after making numerous faces earlier in the day.
He narrowly avoided his career-worst round at a major tournament. He shot 81 (plus-10) in the third round of the British Open at Muirfield in 2002. That result came the same year as his victories at the Masters and US Open.
Meanwhile, the leader after 36 holes, Will Zalatoris, started his third round. The ex-Wake Forest star golfer is trying to continue that trend where the halfway point of a Grand Slam wins at Southern Hills.
At the last four PGA Championships and the last three US Opens, whoever was leading after 36 holes got his hands on the precious trophy.
Zalatoris, who has never won on the PGA Tour, turned up cards of 66 and 65 to build a one-stroke lead over Chilean Mito Pereira. Justin Thomas was three shots away before bogeying on the first hole of his third round.