Friday 22 February 2019 06:22, UK
Tiger Woods was reduced to laughter on the first tee of the WGC-Mexico Championship, but his mood soon took a turn for the worse when he pulled his tee shot out-of-bounds.
Woods, making his first competitive appearance in the country, teed his ball up and then waited an eternity for the MC to introduce him to the packed gallery, although listing all his major achievements does take some time!
He was eventually announced in uplifting fashion as "Tiger ... Tiger ... Tiger Woods" - which resulted in the 14-time major champion unable to avoid a fit of the giggles, and he took time to compose himself as he attempted to drive the par-four first with a fairway-wood from the tee.
But, perhaps distracted by the lengthy and entertaining introduction, his plan to hit a high fade was scuppered when he tugged his ball too far left, and it took a nasty kick to the left and disappeared beyond the out-of-bounds markers.
Forced to reload, Woods' second effort was almost a carbon-copy of the first and he could consider himself fortunate not to be playing five off the tee, and he eventually did well to get up-and-down from a greenside bunker to limit the damage to a double-bogey six.
The 43-year-old recovered and carded a level-par 71 which left him eight shots adrift of leader Rory McIlroy, and he admitted afterwards that he feared he would run up a "big number" at the opening hole.
"I pulled across it to try and cut it and hit it dead off the toe," Woods said. "I hit both of them dead off the toe. The second one was on the exact same line as the first, and I was thinking 'This could be a pretty big number.'
"So I got off to a bad start, got it going after a little bit there and made three birdies in a row, but I couldn't make any birdies after that for some reason. It is what it is."
Watch the video above to see the highs and lows of Tiger Woods on the first tee in Mexico. Live featured group coverage of Friday's second round begins at 5pm on Sky Sports Golf.
