Matt Dunham / AP

Tiger Woods didn't have many reasons to feel cheery at the British Open on Friday. The world's No. 1 player struggled to a 2-over 73 and finished seven shots off the lead.

Woods hit into the right rough on the first hole at Royal St. George’s in 2003, a ball that was never found. But that was only about 10 yards off line. This shot looked like it belonged on the municipal course at Monifieth up the road.

Rarer than the shot was the indecision. He practiced a low stinger on the range, but as Woods settled over the ball, he wondered whether that shot might run into a bunker on the right or if he should hit the ball a little higher.

Either way, the result was double bogey and a battle to stay in the game. Woods saved par from a bunker on the ninth, from the trees by the burn on No. 10 and with an approach while standing upright on the edge of a fairway bunker on the 11th.

Garcia could have put some distance between his challengers, although he still looked very much in control. He didn’t have as many birdie chances as Thursday, when he opened with a 65, but he picked his spots.

“I’m not going to lie. I was a little bit nervous at the beginning because you want to do well like I had yesterday,” Garcia said.

His confidence was soaring at the end, so much that he broke a golfer’s unwritten code never to say “shank.”

“I don’t mind it,” Garcia said.

He recalled a similar start in the final round of Sun City in 2003, playing with Goosen in the final group.

“Down the middle, got the 9-iron out, same club I hit today and shanked it way right of the green,” Garcia said. “That time I made bogey. I managed to win the tournament.

“It’s not a bad thing.”