Tiger Woods has won the Memorial Tournament five times, but his storied history at Muirfield Village was altered by a single Saturday round that stunned the golf world.

During the third round of the 2015 Memorial Tournament, Woods shot a 13-over-par 85, the highest score of his PGA Tour career. The round featured a quadruple-bogey 8 on the 18th hole and left him last in the field in strokes gained tee-to-green.

Woods declined to speak with reporters afterward. He had, however, left a telling quote from his Thursday press conference that landed differently by Saturday evening.

"Got to suck it up," Woods said before the round. "If you believe in it, do it. And eventually it will start turning."

With the 85, Woods dropped to the last place, six shots behind Lucas Glover and 27 behind Justin Rose heading into the final round.

It was only the third round in the 80s of Woods' career. He carded a 42 on the front nine and a 43 on the back, losing 11 shots over the final 11 holes.

Jack Nicklaus, the host of the Memorial Tournament, gave a direct assessment of Woods' performance during the CBS broadcast.

"Tiger's running from teacher to teacher," Nicklaus said. "He needs to go back and review some of his own things rather than listen to someone else."

It was only Woods' fifth tournament of the 2015 season after a nine-week break following his struggles at the Waste Management Phoenix Open.

The 85 at Muirfield Village marked one of the lowest points of his career, and ten years later, returning to competitive golf appears even more challenging.

Tiger Woods' 85 Highlighted a Tough Time in His Career

The statistics from Saturday highlighted Woods' struggles. Despite hitting seven fairways, his best driving performance of the week, he battled poor iron play and needed 32 putts, eight more than in the previous round.

PGA Tour rookie Zac Blair, who once named Woods in his dream foursome, played alongside him that day and finished 15 shots ahead.

"He's the best player to ever play, in my opinion," Blair said. "He'll get back to playing good."

At the time, Woods' most recent PGA Tour victory had come at the 2013 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. Over the next two years, he struggled for consistency, recording just three top-10 finishes in 20 starts while missing three cuts and withdrawing from three events.

Woods has yet to play in a major since missing the cut at the 2024 Open Championship. He is also set to miss his eighth straight major after skipping both the 2026 U.S. Open and Open Championship and has not announced a timeline for returning to competitive golf.

In 2015, Woods eventually found his way back. Whether he can do so again in 2026 remains to be seen.

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Written by

Sneha Abraham

Edited by

Pulkit Prabhav