The Loop
PGA Championship 2018: Tiger Woods opens bogey-double bogey, changes his shirt and promptly makes birdie
Stuart Franklin
Not sure if you've heard, but it's STEAMY in St. Louis this week. Even early on Thursday morning at Bellerive, temperatures have crawled up into the 80s and it appears to be quite humid judging by the perspiration from some of the golfers finally getting the PGA Championship officially underway. It's so hot, in fact, that Tiger Woods is already on his second shirt three holes into his opening round. Yes, you read that correctly.
Following a warm warm-up session, the Tiger Tracker reported that Woods was ["drenched(https://twitter.com/GCTigerTracker/status/1027543532301635586)"] as the 14-time major winner made his way to the 10th tee. Apparently, the heat got to him early, as Woods bogeyed the par-4 10th to open the championship and followed with a disastrous double bogey at the short par-4 11th to fall to three over through two holes. At the 12th, Woods changed his shirt, promptly hit his first fairway, stuffed his approach and tapped in for birdie. Talk about a momentum shift:
Move over Rally Squirrel (little St. Louis connection because that's where the PGA is being played). Make room for the Rally Shirt! Woods is now one under since changing, putting him at two over for the tournament. And while it may look like the exact same shirt he started with, the switch apparently did occur according to many on the grounds:
So that means he packed the same shirt for when he needed the change, thus keeping the scripting for the week intact. That, my friends, is a veteran move. We'll see if there's a third and possibly fourth shirt tucked away in the bag for the back nine. If so, much respect to Joe LaCava for some heavy lifting he's doing today.