Tiger Out of the Woods

Tiger Woods says he’s checked out of the clinic where he went to get help dealing with pain medications, adding he will “continue to tackle this going forward”.

“I recently completed an out of state private intensive program,” Woods tweeted. “I will continue to tackle this going forward with my doctors, family and friends. I am so very thankful for all of the support I’ve received.”

The treatment follows the golfer’s arrest in May on a DUI charge after he was found asleep at the wheel in Jupiter, Florida, around 2am. Woods told police he was taking various prescriptions. No alcohol was found in his system.

Woods said in a statement last month that he was receiving professional help to manage his medications and how he deals with pain and a sleep disorder. His agent confirmed that the 14-time major champion, who had back surgery in April, was seeking in-patient treatment.

In June, Woods’s agent Mark Steinberg spoke about the pain Woods has experienced due to his back issues. “Tiger has been dealing with so much pain physically. And that leads to insomnia and sleep issues. This has been going on for a long time. Was the night in question a tipping point? He’s now gone and checked himself into a facility,” he said. “He’s been in pain for so long. He’s had to handle the pain, which then potentially leads to the lack of sleep because you’re in so much pain.”

Woods has not played in a tournament since February. His last victory in a major came in 2008 at the US Open.

TigerWoods #USOpen 

Tiger on Prowl at Olympic Club

Photo: Getty Images

Tiger Woods felt in control of both his game and his temperament after he made his best start to a US Open for a decade at the Olympic Club in San Francisco.

Feeding off the confidence from his win at The Memorial two weeks ago, Woods opened with a solid one-under 69 to lie three behind early first-round pacesetter Michael Thompson.

"I played well - I felt like I had control of my game all day and stuck to my game plan," said Woods, who mixed thee birdies with two bogeys in hard and fast conditions.

"We knew it was going to be quick, but we didn't think it was going to happen overnight.

"I was really, really surprised how much it changed - it was just like they used sub-air on the whole place and you had to make adjustments."

"I was very pleased with every facet of my game and I stayed very patient."

The highlight of his round was a curling 30-foot putt for birdie at the fifth - his 15th - although he gave the shot back at the next.

"It was a fluke - that putt was off the green," he added. "I'd left myself a tough putt there."

But Phil Mickelson conceded he faced a tough task just to make the halfway cut after he laboured to a six-over 76.

The left-hander's opening tee shot at the ninth hole disappeared into the trees and was never found, triggering a run of three straight bogeys.

The five-time runner-up got a shot back at the 13th, but that proved his lone high note of the day as four further bogeys left him 10 shots off the lead.

Mickelson said: "I didn't play very well obviously. It was a tough day playing the way I did and three-putting the fourth really hurt.

"I've got a tough challenge just to get to the weekend. I will see if I can shoot under par - maybe that will get me there."

As for losing his opening shot, he said: "It must have stayed up in a tree because nobody saw it."

Mickelson was impressed by the form of long-time rival Woods, adding: "Tiger struck it really well. He had real solid control of his flight and trajectory," Mickelson said.

The third member of the "US Stars" three-ball was Masters champion Bubba Watson, who carded seven bogeys and a double-bogey in a horrific eight-over 78.

"The course beat me up today. It's a lot better than I am - it beat me by eight," he said. "It's disappointing and it doesn't matter what tournament it is."

USGA Ends 10 Shot Rule

The top 60 and ties still make the cut at the U.S. Open, but the USGA no longer includes everyone within 10 shots of the 36-hole lead.

USGA executive director Mike Davis said the decision was mainly to protect against too many players on the weekend, and that no one ever has made the cut under the 10-shot rule and gone on to win the U.S. Open.

Perhaps the most glaring problem came at Oakland Hills in 1996, when 108 players made the cut. 

It was nearly to the point that the U.S. Open had to go to threesomes on both tees. Instead, the first group started at 6:45 a.m. Tiger Woods, in his last U.S. Open as an amateur, teed off at 7:17 a.m., the earliest ever for him on Sunday at the U.S. Open.

The flip side was 1993, when Ernie Els made the cut because of the 10-shot rule. He closed with 68-67 on the weekend to tie for seventh, which made him exempt from qualifying the following year. 

Els won that next year at Oakmont for the first of his three majors.