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Woods fires WORST ever US Open score

Southampton - Tiger Woods returned to the US Open with an eight-over par 78 at Shinnecock Hills on Thursday, his worst ever score in the championship leaving him nine shots off the first-round lead.

Woods, who counts three US Open titles among his 14 majors, hadn't played in the tournament since 2015.

He opened with a triple bogey seven at the first hole and would make two double bogeys - including a four-putt at 13 - before he was done.

Woods' previous worst US Open round was a 77 in the third round at Oakland Hills in 1996.

The 42-year-old, whose major title drought now stretches back to his 2008 US Open victory at Torrey Pines, will face an uphill battle just to make the cut.

The intensely competitive star indicated he was up for the challenge.

"Shoot something in the 60s tomorrow, and I'll be just fine," he insisted.

Despite the difficult, windy conditions, Woods said it was his own game that let him down - particularly his putting.

"I didn't putt well today," he said. "I drove it pretty darn good for most of the day, just never took advantage of the opportunities."

He'd seen the high scores of the morning starters, Woods said, and went out aiming to keep anything worse than a bogey off his card.

"My game plan was not to make any 'others' and I made three of them."

Things looked promising when Woods found the fairway at the first, but his second shot rolled through the green and he would need three shots to reach the elevated green, finally two-putting for a seven.

A bogey at the second didn't rattle him.

"All I had to do after that start was shoot even par over the next 16 holes and I'd be just fine," he said.

Woods did play the next 10 holes in even par - with one birdie and one bogey.

But he came unstuck with his four-putt from 40 feet at 13.

"I was worried about running the (first) putt by, left it short, blocked the next one, then blocked it again," said Woods, who added another double at 14. "Not very good."

Leading first round scores on Thursday in the 118th US Open Golf Championship at Shinnecock Hills (par-70):

69 - Scott Piercy (USA), Russell Henley (USA), Dustin Johnson (USA), Ian Poulter (ENG)

70 - Jason Dufner (USA)

71 - Henrik Stenson (SWE), Matthieu Pavon (FRA), An Byeong-Hun (KOR), Justin Rose (ENG), Charles Howell III (USA), Charley Hoffman (USA), Sam Burns (USA)

72 - Brendan Steele (USA), Patrick Rodgers (USA), Mickey DeMorat (USA), Xander Schauffele (USA), Brandt Snedeker (USA), Alexander Norén (SWE)

73 - Kim Si-Woo (KOR), Ryan Fox (NZL), Rafael Cabrera (ESP), Luis Gagne (CRC), Eric Axley (USA), Zach Johnson (USA), Patrick Reed (USA), Rickie Fowler (USA), Chris Naegel (USA), Brian Gay (USA), Pat Perez (USA), Steve Stricker (USA), Jim Furyk (USA), Will Grimmer (USA), Paul Casey (ENG), Andrew Johnston (ENG), Matthew Fitzpatrick (ENG), Russell Knox (SCO)

74 - Matt Parziale (USA), Brian Harman (USA), Matt Kuchar (USA), Justin Thomas (USA), Brian Stuard (USA), Aaron Baddeley (AUS), Marc Leishman (AUS), Shubhankar Sharma (IND), Louis Oosthuizen (RSA)

75 - Hideki Matsuyama (JPN), Shane Lowry (IRL), Francesco Molinari (ITA), Sergio García (ESP), Dean Burmester (RSA), Jimmy Walker (USA), Patrick Cantlay (USA), Brooks Koepka (USA), Kevin Chappell (USA), Peter Uihlein (USA), Roberto Castro (USA), Tony Finau (USA), Luke List (USA), Kyle Stanley (USA), Chez Reavie (USA), Cameron Wilson (USA), Calum Hill (SCO), Tyrrell Hatton (ENG), Danny Willett (ENG), Tommy Fleetwood (ENG)

76 - Ross Fisher (ENG), Jhonattan Vegas (VEN), Chun An Yu (TPE), Tim Wilkinson (NZL), Branden Grace (RSA), Im Sung-Jae (KOR), Thorbjorn Olesen (DEN), Matt Jones (AUS), Emiliano Grillo (ARG), Mackenzie Hughes (CAN), Kiradech Aphibarnrat (THA), Chesson Hadley (USA), Daniel Berger (USA), Bryson DeChambeau (USA), Bill Haas (USA), Lanto Griffin (USA), Ted Potter Jr. (USA), Richy Werenski (USA), Ollie Schniederjans (USA), Webb Simpson (USA), Braden Thornberry (USA)

77 - Sebastián Vázquez (MEX), Alexander Levy (FRA), Richie Ramsay (SCO), Matthew Southgate (ENG), Matt Wallace (ENG), Tyler Duncan (USA), Bubba Watson (USA), Phil Mickelson (USA), Dylan Meyer (USA), Aaron Wise (USA), Lucas Glover (USA), Kevin Kisner (USA), Mike Miller (USA), Chris Babcock (USA)

78 - Michael Putnam (USA), Jordan Spieth (USA), Cole Miller (USA), Ty Strafaci (USA), Tiger Woods (USA), David Gazzolo (USA), Ryan Evans (ENG), Paul Waring (ENG), Jon Rahm (ESP), Jason Scrivener (AUS), Adam Scott (AUS), Dylan Frittelli (RSA), Ernie Els (RSA)

79 - Charl Schwartzel (RSA), David Bransdon (AUS), Jason Day (AUS), Cameron Smith (AUS), Liang Wenchong (CHN), Li Haotong (CHN), Rikuya Hoshino (JPN), Tom Lewis (ENG), Graeme McDowell (NIR), Harold Varner III (USA), Trey Mullinax (USA), Doug Ghim (USA), Gary Woodland (USA), Kenny Perry (USA)

80 - Scott Stallings (USA), Will Zalatoris (USA), Rhett Rasmussen (USA), Rory McIlroy (NIR), Harry Ellis (ENG), Juan Sebastián Muñoz (COL)

81 - Park Sung-Joon (KOR), Kristoffer Reitan (NOR), Satoshi Kodaira (JPN), James Morrison (ENG), Jacob Bergeron (USA), Shintaro Ban (USA), Noah Goodwin (USA), Keegan Bradley (USA), Stewart Hagestad (USA)

82 - Sulman Raza (USA), Philip Barbaree (USA), Franklin Huang (USA), Ryan Lumsden (SCO), Shota Akiyoshi (JPN)

83 - Martin Kaymer (GER), Lucas Herbert (AUS), Garrett Rank (CAN), Adam Hadwin (CAN), Timothy Wiseman (USA)

84 - Theo Humphrey (USA)

85 - Michael Block (USA)

87 - Michael Hebert (USA)

92 - Scott Gregory (ENG)

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