It was his highest score on the hole by four shots. In 89 previous rounds at Augusta National, he had never had worse than triple-bogey.
Woods’ problems started when his tee shot, an eight-iron from 155 yards, landed short of the green and rolled back into the tributary of Rae’s Creek that has gobbled up so many balls over the year.
The way the former world number one played the hole was a far cry from last year, when Woods safely found the putting surface to seize control of the tournament while four of his nearest rivals ran into trouble.
After taking a penalty stroke, he pitched his third shot onto the green, but the soft putting surface repelled it and his ball again rolled back into the water.
Now playing five, he made sure of avoiding the…