No fire from dead Woods

Tiger Woods carded his worst-ever round as a professional on Saturday as a 10 over-par 81 at a sodden, windswept British Open ended his dream of winning a calendar Grand Slam.

Woods, who started the day on four under par, two shots off the lead after a bogey-free third round 68, ended it six over 8212; 10 behind the leaders 8212; after seven bogeys, two-double bogeys and just one birdie, on the 17th.

Battered for much of the round by driving winds and heavy rain, every aspect of the world number one8217;s game was off the mark, with wild drives, overhit approach shots and missed putts leaving a trail of disbelieving fans around the course.

Red hot favourite to add the British Open to his 2002 successes in the Masters and U.S. Open, Woods instead will go out among the back-markers on Sunday. His previous worst round was a 79 in the 1996 Australian Open while his worst in a major was a 77 in the 1997 British Open 8212; though he did have a 78 as an amateur at St Andrews in 1995.

8220;I hit poor shots on a tough day and it added up to a high number,8221; Woods said.

He began his disastrous round by finding the rough on the first for the third successive day, leading to his first dropped shot in 26 holes since the 10th of his first round.

He dropped his second of the day after horribly screwing his tee shot on the 213 yard par-three fourth then missed a six-footer for par to drop to two-under.

He finally found a fairway on the fifth, but promptly followed up with another wild iron into the rough 8212; a shot that caused him to slam his club down in anger. After hacking back on to the fairway he overshot the green with his approach and took three more to get down for a double-bogey seven on a hole he had birdied on the previous two days.

Wayward again off the tee on six, he chipped out but then overshot the green again with his approach to drop another.

Another bogey on eight and a short miss for par on the ninth saw him trudge off the green after a woeful Front nine of 42.

Things continued to go downhill after the turn where another visit to the thick rough caused him to smash the club into the ground in frustration. He made bogey and repeated the dose on the 12th after yet again over-shooting the green with his approach then producing a fluffed chip that would have even embarrassed a club player. Reuters