Fansided

Tiger Woods’ PGA Championship comes to early end after missed cut

By David Salituro

FARMINGDALE, NEW YORK - MAY 17: Tiger Woods of the United States plays his shot from the 17th tee during the second round of the 2019 PGA Championship at the Bethpage Black course on May 17, 2019 in Farmingdale, New York. (Photo by Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)
FARMINGDALE, NEW YORK - MAY 17: Tiger Woods of the United States plays his shot from the 17th tee during the second round of the 2019 PGA Championship at the Bethpage Black course on May 17, 2019 in Farmingdale, New York. (Photo by Stuart Franklin/Getty Images) /
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Tiger Woods, coming off his memorable win at the Masters, misses the cut at the PGA Championship at five-over

The raucous roars that greeted Tiger Woods at the start of his round on Friday turned to disappointing groans by the end of it.

Woods, 15-time major champion, shot three-over 73 at Bethpage Black today and finished his second round at the PGA Championship at five-over for the tournament, missing the cut by a stroke.

Woods came into the PGA Championship riding a wave of momentum coming off his win at the Masters last month. The anticipation awaiting him on Long Island was arguably as big as any tournament he’s ever played in.

But he didn’t play any PGA Tour event in the weeks between majors, and couldn’t practice on Wednesday due to illness. The rust showed over the past two days. Woods hit just three of 14 fairways on Friday and three-putted twice.

Woods holed a 38-foot birdie putt at the ninth to get back to even-par for the round, but then his struggles began. He had to chip out of the rough on the 10th and made bogey, missed the green again on the 11th for another bogey, then three-putted for his third bogey in a row at the 12th. He rebounded with a birdie at the par-five 13th but followed that up with another bogey at the 14th to fall to three-over for his round.

Now at five-over, Woods needed a birdie over his last four holes to get back within the cut line. His last chance came at the 18th. He missed the green with his approach, and when his chip shot failed to fall his tournament came to an end after just 36 holes.

His win at the Masters, coming off four back surgeries that raised doubt about whether he would ever play again, was miraculous. His play this week at the PGA Championship was a hard fall back to reality, and Woods recognizes he didn’t play well enough.

“I’ve enjoyed being the Masters champion again, and the PGA was a quick turnaround, and unfortunately I just didn’t play well,” he said after the round. “I didn’t do all the little things I need to do correctly to post good scores and put myself in position to shoot good scores.”

While Woods was struggling, his playing partner Brooks Koepka was making history of his own. Koepka beat Woods by 17 shots through the two rounds they played together at Bethpage Black and set a new record for lowest 36-hole score at a major. He beat Woods at the PGA Championship last year, and Woods returned the favor at Augusta National by beating Koepka.

Koepka and Woods are quickly developing into close rivals. Kopeka is chasing his fourth major at the age of 29 this week; for the 43-year-old Woods, his quest for No. 16 will have to wait until Pebble Beach for the U.S. Open next month.

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