A second straight missed cut looking likely for Tiger in Dubai

— -- DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- The first time Tiger Woods came to the Middle East to play the longest-running European Tour event in the region, the iconic skyline that is the backdrop to so many photographs emanating from Emirates Golf Club barely existed.

The abundance of skyscrapers that seemingly stand atop the course grew from what was just two tall buildings when Woods came here for the first time in 2000. The tee shot off the par-4 eighth hole was easily framed by them.

"You could use one to aim at if you wanted to draw the ball, the other if you wanted to fade it off the tee,'' Woods said, marveling at Dubai's growth.

Such a sense of history comes with age and experience, but that past is dogging Woods right now as an unconvincing comeback to this point can only be tempered by the knowledge that it is still the early stages of a return from multiple back surgeries.

On Thursday, Woods shot 77 in the opening round of the Omega Dubai Desert Classic on a course where he had never posted worse than 75 and in a tournament where he had never missed the cut. The later seems all but inevitable now, the amount of ground to be made up significant on Friday, when play is expected to be affected by strong wind.

A scoring average of 68.17 in 28 previous rounds took a beating with the first-day performance, and so did all those good vibes coming out of the Bahamas in December, when Woods had a surprisingly good week at the Hero World Challenge in his first competition in more than a year.

There he made 24 birdies to lead the field. Here he made none during the first round, something that last happened at Doral in 2014 -- his last round before undergoing his first back surgery.

"I certainly drove it better in the Bahamas, I really did,'' Woods said Thursday. "I don't know why. If I could, if I knew I would tell your right now. But there's something that's different. I know the last two drives I hit off of 8 and 9 today, there's something different.

"I need to figure out what the hell I did that was different, and then replicate it for another, hopefully another 54 more holes.''

The success in the Bahamas may have served to only heighten immense expectations for Woods that are unrealistic. He looked good there. Surprisingly good. The swing was uninhibited, but in control. He had a second-round 65 in which he climbed the leaderboard. Even a disappointing 76 in the final round was tempered by the fact that he was healthy.

But in three rounds since, there has been little to cheer about. Woods has looked stiff and tentative, especially early in the day. That was the case a week ago at Torrey Pines where it was cold, and again on Thursday at Emirates Golf Club where it was warm. Woods' demeanor and expressions were troubling.

A day earlier, Woods had said "I just play away from pain,'' explaining that he didn't care how his swing looked, as long as it didn't produce discomfort.

He appeared to be hurting Thursday, especially early in the round, but when asked directly about it, he said, "No, I wasn't in pain at all. I was just trying to hit shots, and I wasn't doing a very good job.''

That leads to the obligatory reminder that this is just Woods' third tournament in 18 months. It was just his seventh round of competitive golf. Throw in testing new equipment and traveling across 12 time zones and there are plenty of reasons -- some will undoubtedly call them excuses -- for the struggles.

But this was always going to be a time-consuming process, not a quick jump back to the top echelon of the game.

"It's only his second [official] tournament back,'' said Matthew Fitzpatrick, a three-time winner on the European Tour who was 2 years old when Woods won the 1997 Masters. "Anybody away for that long is going to be rusty.''

Fitzpatrick was thrilled to get a chance to play with Woods, and bettered one of his idols by 8 strokes. Sergio Garcia leads and is 12 strokes ahead of Woods.

Woods was frustrated, annoyed at a poor putting performance, disappointed he could not get anything going at a place where he has five top-5 finishes, including two victories.

But deep down, Woods has to know this is going to be a slow progression. No way would he want to come out and get beaten by guys he's never heard of, and yet he seems willing to endure the horrors for now. Only seven players shot worse than Woods, three of them playing in the afternoon when extremely strong winds kicked up.

Clearly Woods has to look at the big picture -- the lack of practice and competition, a swing altered to deal with a bad back -- but he sticks to the present, making it about today.

Asked if is difficult to stay patient, Woods admits that it sometimes is, then immediately becomes defiant, the tournament at hand the issue.

"I'm fighting my ass off to try and shoot a score, I'm trying to get back to even par,'' he said. "And once I get back to even par, try and get 1- or 2-under. Just try and creep my way back.

"I kept telling [caddie] Joey [LaCava], if we could get to even par at the turn, we have [No.] 2 drivable, 3 short, come on, maybe we can get to under par for the round, we can get this thing going, get it moving. And it just never materialized.''

It would be fair to wonder if it ever will.

It would also be unfair to not give Woods time to work things out, however long that may be. He talks about peaking for the Masters but reality suggests this is going to take more time. He needs rounds, and unfortunately for him, those play out in front of large crowds and worldwide television audiences that sometimes have a hard time believing what they are seeing.

Fitzpatrick, an Englishman who spent a year at Northwestern before turning pro and joining the European Tour, was overjoyed to be inside the ropes with the 14-time major champion. Woods kept his scorecard, and Fitzpatrick said in the coming months he will see if Woods would sign it for him.

"It was amazing,'' he said. "That was as nervous as I've been in a while. But he was brilliant. On the first hole, I turned to my caddie and said, 'this is one of my favorite rounds already.' I'm sure Tiger is going to come back [to form]. Everyone wants to see him back.''

They just don't want to see him play the way he did Thursday, and there is no guarantee it will get better anytime soon. Riviera, where Woods has traditionally struggled, and PGA National, a windswept course with a lot of water and hazards, are far from friendly venues.

Such difficult doses of perspective are likely in order. A game he once made look easy is now hard. Woods didn't need to come all the way to the Middle East to learn that.

Perhaps there is solace in the final hole, where Woods busted a drive 324 yards. He had hit a good one at the previous hole, too. After the shaky start, he missed just two fairways. Those are not the numbers of a guy with a bad back.

But doing it consistently? With confidence? Ultimately, it is the final tally on the scorecard by which you are judged, and for now, the numbers are not adding up.