Done in by a pair of triple bogeys early in his round, Tiger Woods carded a 6-over-par 77 on Friday and will miss the cut at the PGA Championship in Louisville, Ky.
Woods was unable to improve on the 1-over 72 he shot Thursday morning at Valhalla Golf Club. At 7-over 149, Woods was tied for 134th out of 155 in the field when the second round was suspended due to darkness.
Woods, 48, has not made the cut at the PGA Championship since 2020, when he tied for 37th. It was the 15-time major champion’s first start since making his record 24th straight cut at the Masters last month at Augusta National.
After his round, Woods said he feels better physically than he did a month ago but he needs to get more reps before the U.S. Open next month at Pinehurst No. 2.
“I need to play more,” Woods told reporters. “Unfortunately, I just haven’t played a whole lot of tournaments, and not a whole lot of tournaments on my schedule either. Hopefully everything will somehow come together in my practice sessions at home and be ready for Pinehurst.”
Woods went 7 over in a three-hole stretch at Nos. 2-4 on Friday, with triple-bogey 7s sandwiching a bogey at the par-3 third hole. At the second, he had a shot fly from one greenside bunker to another before getting on the green in five strokes and finishing with two putts.
He was in the sand again at No. 4 when his third shot failed to get up onto the green. His first attempt to get out of the green caught the upper lip and the ball rolled back down to his feet. Again, it took him five shots to land on the green.
Woods went on to make back-to-back birdies at Nos. 7-8 before they were erased by consecutive bogeys at Nos. 11-12. He finished his week with a birdie at the par-5 18th hole.
“I got off to bad start and the rough grabbed me at 2,” Woods said. “No sand in the bunker as well. Just made a mistake there. I compounded the problem there at 4. Just kept making mistakes and things you can’t do, not just in tournaments but in majors especially. And I just kept making them. I hung around for most of the day, but unfortunately the damage was done early.”
Woods said there is plenty to fix in his game before he returns to competition.
“I need to clean up my rounds,” he said. “But also — physically, yes, I am better than I was a month ago. I still have more ways to go, lots of improvement to go physically, and hopefully my team and I can get that done pre-Pinehurst and going into it.”
Woods was playing at the site of his 2000 PGA Championship victory — the third leg of the “Tiger Slam,” which saw him win all four major championships consecutively from 2000-01.
“The week, it was a great week being here, being here at Valhalla, and unfortunately my scores did not indicate how the people treated me and how great a week I had,” Woods said. “Unfortunately, I hit too many shots.”
–Field Level Media
