Tiger Woods tracker: PGA Championship cut line, scores

Publish date: 2024-08-22

Tiger Woods’s lengthy comeback from a litany of physical and personal problems peaked last month at the Masters. His fifth win at Augusta National Golf Club was his 15th major title and made him one of the favorites at this week’s PGA Championship at Bethpage Black.

The Long Island course is long, and narrow, and famously difficult, and for the 43-year old Woods, it proved too much. His erratic second round on Friday left Woods 5 over par — and out of the tournament.

Brooks Koepka makes history, Tiger Woods misses cut at PGA Championship

Woods had recorded top 10 finishes in three straight majors before this week. But he hadn’t played in a tournament since winning the Masters, and his game appeared rusty at Bethpage. He played only nine holes of practice golf there in the run-up to the tournament, skipping an anticipated round on Wednesday to the surprise of observers. On Thursday, he revealed he was feeling under the weather.

“I wasn’t feeling that good yesterday, so I decided to stay home and rest,” Woods said Thursday. “I got a little bit sick, so I decided to stay home.”

But he added that his physical condition had nothing to do with his play Thursday, which included two three-putt bogeys on his second nine.

In Friday’s second round, Woods hit just three fairways, according to the TNT broadcast, and his scorecard was a mess. He began the back nine with one birdie mixed between four bogeys. That left him desperately needing to gain a shot as his round drew to a close, but he parred his last four holes, without any serious birdie attempts. His second-shot approach to the 18th green came up woefully short.

The contrast with the hottest player in the game, who happened to be part of Woods’s threesome, couldn’t have been more stark. Brooks Koepka, 29, has won three of the past eight majors and has been dominant this week, with a first-round 63 followed by a second-round 65. He headed to the clubhouse Friday with a seven-shot lead, and with the lowest two-round score in major championship history.

Woods missed one cut at a major — the U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills (also on Long Island) — during his comeback campaign last year. The next major is the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, a place Woods knows well.

He won the 2000 U.S. Open there by 15 strokes, a record for a major championship, when he became the first U.S. Open winner to finish double digits under par. At the 2010 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, Woods finished tied for fourth.

“The golf course has always had a special place in my heart,” Woods said after winning the 2000 U.S. Open. “One, for its pristine beauty and another [for] its mystique … the [dramatic] finishes that we’ve had in tournaments over the years on this golf course … I’ve always absolutely loved playing here, from the time I was 13. And I’ll always continue to love it.”

Hole-by-hole updates

No. 18 (par 4)

Woods finally hit a fairway with a lovely drive. Desperately needing a birdie, his approach was one of his most important shots of the day, and it wasn’t a good one, short and to the right. That left Woods needing a miracle from just off the green, and he didn’t get it.

Woods’s score: +5. Projected cut line: +4.

No. 17 (par 3)

An okay tee shot, a long birdie attempt, a two-putt for par, and Woods remains in serious trouble. He has one more chance.

Woods’s score: +5. Projected cut line: +4.

No. 16 (par 4)

A solid drive trickled just off the fairway, but Woods’s second shot came up just short, leaving him with about 25 feet from the fringe. He cleaned up for par, but pars won’t be good enough to keep Woods around for the weekend. With two holes left, he almost certainly needs at least one birdie.

Woods’s score: +5. Projected cut line: +4.

No. 15 (par 4)

A perfectly boring par on a hole when Woods needed something more than that. He was on the green in two shots, and in the hole in two more, with a long birdie attempt that never really had a chance. Woods will almost certainly need to gain at least one shot in his final three holes to stick around for the weekend.

Woods’s score: +5. Projected cut line: +3.

No. 14 (par 3)

On another forgiving hole, Woods failed to give himself much of a chance, leaving his tee shot about 55 feet from the hole. His birdie attempt shot well past the hole yet again, and he couldn’t convert a 10-foot comebacker for par. The three-putt bogey was Woods’s fourth in five holes, and again dropped him to +5 for the tournament.

Woods’s score: +5. Projected cut line: +3.

No. 13 (par 5)

A wayward drive left into a fairway bunker forced Woods to lay up, and his third-shot approach gave him about a 12-foot putt for birdie. He drilled the putt, reversing his slide and putting him back within striking distance of the cut. That birdie felt absolutely crucial on what has been one of Bethpage’s easiest holes of the day. Also helping Woods: the cut line, which is creeping closer to +4.

Woods’s score: +4. Projected cut line: +3.

No. 12 Bogey (par 4)

A brutal start to the back nine continued with Woods shooting his lengthy birdie putt well past the hole. He had about nine feet left to save par but missed by inches, giving him a third straight bogey and putting his chances of staying around Long Island for the weekend in severe jeopardy.

Woods’s score: +5. Projected cut line: +3.

No. 11 Bogey (par 4)

Now Woods is in real danger, with two shots in the rough, eventually followed by a 13-foot attempt to save par that wouldn’t fall. A second straight bogey put Woods below the projected cut line for the first time on the day.

Woods’s score: +4. Projected cut line: +3.

No. 10: Bogey (par 4)

It’s the same old story for Woods: another missed fairway, and another disappointing result. After driving into some tall grass, Woods had to punch out with a wedge to get himself back in regulation, and needed two puts after a clean approach.