LOUISVILLE, Ky. — After posting his 11th consecutive round of par or worse at a major championship with a 6-over 77 in the second round of the PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club on Friday, Tiger Woods is heading home again for the weekend. .
With a 36-hole total of 7-over 149, Woods was over the projected cut line of 1-under 141. In his past 22 starts in the majors, he has missed the cut 10 times and withdrawn twice.
However, the 15-time major champion says he is recovering from injuries sustained in a car accident in February 2021 and hopes his game will improve.
Woods, 48, said he plans to play the next major U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2 in North Carolina, June 13-16.
“It will happen at the right time,” Woods said of the possibility of improving his game. “I still have to play. Unfortunately, I haven’t played a lot of matches and I don’t have a lot of matches in my schedule. Hopefully everything will come together somehow and be ready in my practice sessions at home. Pinehurst.”
The round couldn’t have started worse for Woods, who made par on the first and then bogeyed the par-4 second. After knocking his drive into the left rough, Woods hit his second shot into the rough and his third into the bunker. He then hit another bunker shot across the green, chipped to 20½ feet and two-putted for triple bogey.
After three-putting for a bogey on the par-3 third, Woods recorded his second triple bogey in three holes on the short par-4 fourth. He was only 75 yards from the hole after the tee — but didn’t reach the green until his fifth shot. His third went into the bunker and he couldn’t get his fourth out of the sand. He 2-putted his ball from 11½ feet. Woods is 7 over after four holes in the round.
It was the first time Woods had multiple triple bogeys in 1,344 rounds in his PGA Tour career, according to ESPN Stats and Information Research.
Coming into Friday, Woods had only one triple bogey in his previous 22 PGA Championship appearances — the sixth hole in the third round of the 2022 PGA Championship at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
“Well, I got off to a bad start and Ruff caught me by 2 runs,” Woods said. “There was no sand in the bunker either. I made a mistake there. I aggravated the problem at 4. I kept making mistakes and things that you can’t do, not just in tournaments, especially in the majors. I kept doing them. I hung around all day, but unfortunately the damage was done early.”
After that loss, Woods settled for card pars on his next two holes. On the par-5 seventh, he chipped to 8 feet and made a birdie putt. The highlight of the round came when he birdied the par-3 eighth — his ball stopped 4 inches from the cup for another birdie to move him to 5 over.
But Woods’ momentum quickly stalled when he carded back-to-back bogeys on Nos. 11 and 12.
After so much damage early in the round, Woods went 1 under over the final 14 holes. He made a birdie on the par-5 18th after pulling his approach into the fans. He chipped to 4 feet from the rough 98 feet and putt.
“Keep fighting,” Woods said. “Keep pedaling, keep fighting, keep grinding, keep working hard to post the best score I can post today. That’s all I can do. It’s going to be a lot, but I’m going to fight until the end. .”
Woods wasn’t the only star to go home after 36 holes. Defending US Open champion Wyndham Clarke (4 over), Phil Mickelson (4 over), Adam Scott (3 over), Sam Burns (3 over), Matt Fitzpatrick (also), Jon Rahm (also) and Ludwig Aberg (also) also Predicted to miss the cut.
