Tiger Woods was left to rue the conclusion to a rocky opening round at the U.S. Open as a bogey-double bogey finish saw him card a three-over 73.

The 15-time major champion found life tough at the tricky Winged Foot course but looked to have rescued a respectable score.

A run of three birdies from the ninth had Woods under par for the first time, before he again responded after consecutive bogeys on the back nine.

But there was to be another unfortunate twist for the 44-year-old, who missed a six-foot putt to save par at the 17th following a poor tee shot and then made a mess of the final hole, unable to even rescue a bogey from five feet.

Woods was already eight strokes behind clubhouse leader Justin Thomas (five under), who had Patrick Reed (four under) and Rory McIlroy (three under) for company on Thursday.

"It was a bit of ebb and flow to the round today," Woods said. "I did not finish off the round like I needed to.

"I made a bunch of putts in the middle part of the round.

"It seemed like most of my drives on the front nine landed in the fairway and ended up in bad spots, and I tried to stay as patient as possible.

"Unfortunately, I just did not finish off my round the way I needed to."