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Tiger Woods cards 80 in Round 1, his worst career score at U.S. Open

Michael Madrid / Reuters

Major win No. 15 couldn't seem any further away.

Tiger Woods carded an opening round 80 at the 115th U.S. Open - his worst career score at the event. His previous worst score at the U.S. Open was a 77, which he tallied in 1996 as an amateur.

"I fought," Tiger told the media after the round. "That was my number today. I couldn't have gone lower than that."

Interestingly enough, the result comes 15 years to the day of Tiger winning the 2000 U.S. Open by 15 strokes.

Tiger bogeyed each of his first two holes, and four of his first six. The 4-over score through six holes is the worst start he's experienced in his U.S. Open career.

He settled down from there, making par on four consecutive holes, but the wheels came off after that. Tiger made three straight bogeys from 11 through 13, then triple-bogeyed 14 to drop to 10-over par.

The 14-time major champion made his first and only birdie on 16 to get back to 9-over par, but bogeyed the par-5 18th to complete a round of 80.

"I hate to watch this. I'm an avid fan," former pro Tom Weiskopf said on the FOX broadcast. "When you were at the top of Everest and now you're in a coal mine ... it's hard to take, it's hard to watch."

No one in Tiger's group fared particularly well Thursday. Louis Oosthuizen shot a 7-over 77, and Rickie Fowler carded an opening round 81. The group will tee off on No. 10 at 11:28 am ET on Friday.

"I think we were all just happy to be upright, alive, and moving on with the day," Fowler told FOX's Charles Davis after the round.

Tiger's worst career score as a pro in a major round was an 81 in the third round of the 2002 Open Championship.

"It's just one of those things. Just gotta work through it," Tiger said after the round. "I'm trying as hard as I can to do it. It's just, for some reason, I just can't find the consistency I want out there."

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