The American, chasing his fifth victory in the opening major of the year, struggled with his driving throughout his round and found the trees on the first two holes.

He managed to scramble two pars, though, before picking up a birdie at the par-four third.

The former word No.1 bounced back from a bogey on the seventh with birdies at both the eighth and 10th but failed to make any further inroads on the leaders on the back nine.

Woods parred both the par fives - 13 and 15 - after some wayward shots and his troubles finally caught up with him as he bogeyed the 17th.

Penalty drop

A hooked tee shot into the trees at 18 forced him to take a penalty drop but he was able to limit the damage to only one dropped shot after holing a five-foot putt for bogey.

"I hit some of the worst shots I've ever hit," he said. "It was some of my old stuff from a few years ago - every now and again it pops up.

"I just hung in there and grinded my way around the golf course and stayed very patient, stayed in the moment. I could have shot one, maybe two better, but I got a lot out of that round.

"It's brutal out there, it's very, very tough. Some of these pins, like that pin on five, we haven't seen that in a while. The majority of the pins were tough."