Tiger Woods hits rock bottom at Chambers Bay

Dressed entirely in black, the outfit perfectly reflected Tiger Woods's dark mood as he piled up bogey after bogey and was unable to tap into any of the form and belief that carried him to the top of the world rankings and 14 major titles.

The 39-year-old American made a dreadful bogey, bogey start and went steadily downhill from there until he made a triple-bogey at the 14th that dropped him to 10-over.

Only one player, Rich Berberian Jr., a club professional playing in his first U.S. Open, was below him at the time.

A birdie at the 16th was the lone bright spot before he finished with a bogey to leave him in a tie for 152nd place, one shot clear of Rickie Fowler and three in front of Berberian.

Without a Major title since his U.S. Open victory seven years ago at Torrey Pines, Woods's chances of ending the drought seems unlikely after he carded the fourth highest score in his professional career to leave him 15 shots behind co-leaders Dustin Johnson and Swede Henrik Stenson.

Even in a year that has produced only disappointment, Woods's display on the links-style layout was shocking.

With just one top-25 finish in five starts this season, little was expected from Woods as he continued to recover from back surgery and to work on a remodelled swing.

But few would have expected his downward spiral to continue to such an extent on Thursday at Chambers Bay where he recorded his third round in the 80s this year.

He has managed to break 70 just twice.

"The bright side is at least I kicked Rickie's butt today," joked Woods, managing to find a bit of humour in his performance and the fact that Fowler's day was even worse.

"I fought hard and that was my number (80).

"I couldn't grind out any harder than that. So that's just the way I played and unfortunately it was a high number today...

"Not very happy, that's for sure. It was a tough day," Woods told reporters. "It's one of those things, just got to work through it.

"I'm trying as hard as I can to do it, and for some reason I just can't get the consistency that I'd like to have out there."

Woods is in the midst of a fourth major swing change of his career, and admitted that he is struggling to get it together.

"They're all not easy to do," he said. "I've gone through tough phases in each one of these things and I've come out okay on the other side.

"I haven't played enough. I haven't had a rhythm to play.

"I didn't play much last year and I haven't played much this year.

"Knee surgeries are pretty easy compared to a back surgery, the recovery time and for some reason, it's just a lot harder dealing with a nerve than a joint.

"Keep grinding and keep working."

Tiger's justification of his awful day on the course is as worrying as it gets for fans.

He fought it out as hard as he could, and that was his number?

There was a time when Woods could have a day of bad timing - something which affects every golfer, professional or amateur - and still grind his way to a round of 72 or better. Time and again he won Majors (and other tournaments) not by enjoying good days that were better than the competition, but by ensuring that his bad days were never as bad as anyone else's.

That talent for scoring appears to have deserted him completely. His excuse - that he simply hasn't played enough - does hold water, since it's more or less impossible to scramble effectively when you're out of practice.

But at this stage there are no guarantees that we'll ever see Woods back as a contender. People have been shocked to see his world ranking plunge to 195 - but on the evidence of 2015 so far, that looks about right.

-5 Dustin Johnson (U.S.) 65

Henrik Stenson (Sweden) 65

-4 Patrick Reed (U.S.) 66

-3 Matt Kuchar (U.S.) 67

Brian Campbell (U.S.) 67

Ben Martin (U.S.) 67

-2 Jason Day (Australia) 68

Jordan Spieth (U.S.) 68

Joost Luiten (Netherlands) 68

Francesco Molinari (Italy) 68

Jason Dufner (U.S.) 68

Marc Warren (Britain) 68

Cody Gribble (U.S.) 68

-1 Phil Mickelson (U.S.) 69

Brian Harman (U.S.) 69

Kevin Chappell (U.S.) 69

Brandt Snedeker (U.S.) 69

Colin Montgomerie (Britain) 69

Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spain) 69

Branden Grace (South Africa) 69

Ollie Schniederjans (U.S.) 69

Geoff Ogilvy (Australia) 69

Charlie Beljan (U.S.) 69

Tony Finau (U.S.) 69

Shane Lowry (Ireland) 69

Level par - Daniel Summerhays (U.S.) 70

Brad Fritsch (Canada) 70

Nick Hardy (U.S.) 70

Jamie Lovemark (U.S.) 70

Adam Scott (Australia) 70

Sergio Garcia (Spain) 70

Hideki Matsuyama (Japan) 70

Masahiro Kawamura (Japan) 70

Chris Kirk (U.S.) 70

Kevin Na (U.S.) 70

Sebastian Cappelen (Denmark) 70

Alexander Levy (France) 70

Bubba Watson (U.S.) 70

Angel Cabrera (Argentina) 70

Cameron Smith (Australia) 70

Michael Putnam (U.S.) 70

+1 Marcus Fraser (Australia) 71

Morgan Hoffmann (U.S.) 71

Russell Henley (U.S.) 71

Jim Furyk (U.S.) 71

Denny McCarthy (U.S.) 71

Andres Romero (Argentina) 71

Beau Hossler (U.S.) 71

Kevin Kisner (U.S.) 71

Thongchai Jaidee (Thailand) 71

Pan Cheng Tsung (Chinese Taipei) 71

+2 Ernie Els (South Africa) 72

Mark Silvers (U.S.) 72

Jimmy Gunn (Britain) 72

Sam Saunders (U.S.) 72

George Coetzee (South Africa) 72

Billy Horschel (U.S.) 72

Justin Rose (Britain) 72

J.B. Holmes (U.S.) 72

Shiv Kapur (India) 72

Danny Willett (Britain) 72

Martin Kaymer (Germany) 72

Rory McIlroy (Britain) 72

Bernd Wiesberger (Austria) 72

Brooks Koepka (U.S.) 72

Webb Simpson (U.S.) 72

Hiroyuki Fujita (Japan) 72

David Hearn (Canada) 72

John Senden (Australia) 72

Andy Sullivan (Britain) 72

John Parry (Britain) 72

Kurt Barnes (Australia) 72

Troy Kelly (U.S.) 72

Zach Johnson (U.S.) 72

Ian Poulter (Britain) 72

Jimmy Walker (U.S.) 72

Camilo Villegas (Colombia) 72

Paul Casey (Britain) 72

+3 Charl Schwartzel (South Africa) 73

Bill Haas (U.S.) 73

Hunter Mahan (U.S.) 73

Lucas Bjerregaard (Denmark) 73

Jack Maguire (U.S.) 73

Marcel Siem (Germany) 73

Liang Wenchong (China) 73

Keegan Bradley (U.S.) 73

An Byeong-Hun (Korea) 73

Marc Leishman (Australia) 73

Luke Donald (Britain) 73

Tom Hoge (U.S.) 73

Oliver Farr (Britain) 73

Lee Westwood (Britain) 73

Lee Janzen (U.S.) 73

Davis Riley (U.S.) 73

Bo Van Pelt (U.S.) 73

Alexander Noren (Sweden) 73

Lucas Glover (U.S.) 73

+4 Jake Knapp (U.S.) 74

Matt Mabrey (U.S.) 74

Ryan Palmer (U.S.) 74

Andy Pope (U.S.) 74

Thomas Aiken (South Africa) 74

Kevin Lucas (U.S.) 74

Brandon Hagy (U.S.) 74

Roberto Castro (U.S.) 74

D.A. Points (U.S.) 74

Ryo Ishikawa (Japan) 74

Bryson DeChambeau (U.S.) 74

Jamie Donaldson (Britain) 74

Graeme McDowell (Britain) 74

Yang Gunn (Korea) 74

Victor Dubuisson (France) 74

Lee McCoy (U.S.) 74

Jason Allred (U.S.) 74

Robert Streb (U.S.) 74

Tim O'Neal (U.S.) 74

Stephan Jaeger (Germany) 74

Gary Woodland (U.S.) 74

Richard Lee (U.S.) 74

Garth Mulroy (South Africa) 74

Baek Seuk-Hyun (Korea) 74

Tommy Fleetwood (Britain) 74

+5 Steve Marino (U.S.) 75

George McNeill (U.S.) 75

Cameron Tringale (U.S.) 75

Sam Horsfield (Britain) 75

Ryan Moore (U.S.) 75

Anirban Lahiri (India) 75

+6 Bradley Neil (Britain) 76

Brad Elder (U.S.) 76

Jason Palmer (Britain) 76

Matthew NeSmith (U.S.) 76

Erik Compton (U.S.) 76

Charley Hoffman (U.S.) 76

+7 Louis Oosthuizen (South Africa) 77

Cole Hammer (U.S.) 77

Retief Goosen (South Africa) 77

Tjaart Van der Walt (South Africa) 77

Darren Clarke (Britain) 77

Michael Davan (U.S.) 77

+8 Jared Becher (U.S.) 78

Tyler Duncan (U.S.) 78

Danny Lee (New Zealand) 78

Brendon Todd (U.S.) 78

Blayne Barber (U.S.) 78

Shunsuke Sonoda (Japan) 78

Matt Every (U.S.) 78

Kyle Jones (U.S.) 78

Stephen Gallacher (Britain) 78

+9 Josh Persons (U.S.) 79

Pat Wilson (U.S.) 79

+10 Alex Kim (U.S.) 80

Billy Hurley III (U.S.) 80

Tiger Woods (U.S.) 80

+11 Rickie Fowler (U.S.) 81

+13 Rich Berberian Jr. (U.S.) 83