Three-time Open champion Tiger Woods admits he is still making too many mistakes to realistically challenge for a 15th major title.
The American's 73 on the third day of the 143rd Open Championship, for a three-over total, was only his fifth competitive round since an operation on his back in March.
He opened with successive birdies, having begun at the par-five 10th due to the R&A's decision to hold a two-tee start because of the threat of bad weather, but could not maintain that momentum and a second nine of 38 included a triple-bogey seven after losing his ball in a gorse bush, as well as a double-bogey six.
"I've made a lot of mistakes. I've made two doubles and two triples (this week) but on top of that I missed a lot of shots for opportunities for birdies and consequently I'm three over par," Woods said.
"I'm starting to get the flow of the round, the flow of playing again, but still I've just made too many mistakes.
"You can't run up high scores like that and expect to contend, especially when the conditions are this benign. Most of the scores are three under par or better. I certainly didn't do that."
Woods wore a black ribbon, as did many of the players, in memory of coach Bob Torrance, father of Ryder Cup-winning captain Sam, who died of cancer on Friday.
"I've known him a lot over the years, even from my amateur days when I came over here. He's been fantastic to me," Woods added.
"We've had a lot of great conversations about golf. It was always fun picking his brain about the game, how it's evolved and how he believes it should be played.
"I'm going to miss him very much."