Tiger Woods conceded he was not as sharp as he needed to be during round one of the US Open on Thursday.

The 15-time major winner carded a four-over 74 at Pinehurst No 2, leaving him nine shots adrift of co-leaders Patrick Cantlay and Rory McIlroy.

Woods is making just a third start of the season as he focuses on being able to stay healthy for the majors, but the 48-year-old acknowledged that is affecting his ability to compete.

In quotes reported by Sky Sports, he said: "I didn't hit my irons particularly well. [I] didn't putt that great. Drove it on the string all day, just unfortunately I just didn't capitalise on it.

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"I was somewhat conservative in some of my end points. Then again, I didn't hit the ball very well either, so it added up to quite a bit of distance away from the flag. It's not where I wanted to be on a lot of the holes. It just ended up being that far away because I wasn't as sharp as I needed to be."

"I'm physically getting better as the year has gone on. I just haven't been able to play as much because I just don't want to hurt myself [pre-majors], then I won't be able to play in the major championships.

"It's pick your poison, right? Play a lot with the potential of not playing, or not playing and fight being not as sharp."