By Tony Jimenez HOYLAKE England (Reuters) – Tiger Woods rued a string of errors after the former world number one dropped to a one-over-par 73 on a good day to score in the third round of the British Open on Saturday. The organizers’ decision to advance the start time to avoid the heavy rain and storms that were forecast proved to be correct, as the softer fairways and greens and calm wind meant that a total of 17 sub-70 rounds were played. Woods, however, was unable to take advantage and was tied for 58th at 219, three over par. “I made a lot of mistakes,” he told reporters at Royal Liverpool. “On top of that, I missed a lot of shots looking for birdie opportunities.” The 14-time major champion made even progress on the first, ninth, 10, 11 and 16, but his progress was halted by a double bogey on six on the second, a triple bogey on seven on the seventh and another drop shot on the par-three 15th. Woods is competing in just his second tournament since undergoing back surgery in March and believes his game is headed in the right direction. “I’m starting to feel the flow of the round, the flow of playing again,” the 38-year-old American said. “But you can’t get scores as high as that and expect to compete, especially when the conditions are so benign. Most scores today are three under par or better and I certainly didn’t do that.” Woods, now ranked seventh in the world, took time to pay tribute to Scottish coach Bob Torrance, who died on Friday at the age of 82. “I’ve gotten to know Bob a lot over the years,” he said. my fan days when I came here. “He was fantastic to me. We’ve had a lot of great conversations about golf. It was always fun to pick his brain about the game… I’m going to miss him a lot.” (Editing by Rex Gowar)
I made too many mistakes, says Woods after ’73
