Tiger Woods slumped to a closing round of 77 to cap a miserable week at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. He carded three birdies, six bogeys and two double bogeys to finish 18 over par at Firestone, a venue where he had won on his previous four visits and a US Tour record seven times in all.
That left the 14-time major winner joint 78th of the 80 players remaining in the field, with only Sweden’s Henrik Stenson below him on the leaderboard.
And it meant Woods was powerless to prevent Phil Mickelson ending his latest five-year reign as world number one by finishing fourth or better later tonight.
Mickelson was in a share of 10th overnight on five under par, four shots behind joint leaders Ryan Palmer and Sean O’Hair.
Meanwhile, European captain Colin Montgomerie is considering handing a Ryder Cup wild card to 53-year-old Bernhard Langer.
Langer played the last of his 10 Ryder Cups at The Belfry in 2002 and now competes on the Champions Tour in America, but has won the Senior British Open and the US Senior Open in the last three weeks.
“I would not rule out picking Bernhard,” Montgomerie said. “I’m not ruling out anybody, especially someone who has performed to that degree and is in the form of his life.
“It wouldn’t be such an out-of-the-blue pick. I think he’s playing as well as he ever has and he’s said he is. And I know through having played with Bernhard Langer that he is as good a partner as anyone could ever have.”
Montgomerie could be in need of some experience in his team if world number three Lee Westwood is ruled out with a calf injury.
Westwood pulled out of the Bridgestone Invitational after two rounds and said he has been told he needs six weeks’ rest.