PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland -- Tiger Woods all but told us this would happen. Just the other day, he said that the Masters had taken a ton out of him, that his game was not particularly sharp, and that he needed to shape his golf ball more convincingly than he had been.
Oh, and he also reminded us that his surgically-altered, 43-year-old body does not move forcefully through the ball, or around the course, when the weather starts reminding him of his age.
But to see him almost stagger around Royal Portrush on Thursday while shooting a 7-over 78 in the first round of the Open, and then to hear him speak as candidly and alarmingly as he ever has about his physical state, was to understand that Woods appears to have crossed a threshold only three months after his most significant victory.