Tiger Woods heading home early from the Open Championship

Tiger Woods will miss the cut at the Open Championship after finishing at six-over in his two rounds at Royal Portrush

Tiger Woods came and went quickly and quietly from Royal Portrush this week.

The 15-time major champion saw significant improvement on Friday compared to his disastrous opening round yesterday, but it won’t be enough to keep Woods around for the weekend at the Open Championship. Woods finished with a one-under 70 and six-over for the tournament.

Woods arrived at Royal Portrush earlier this week coming off a lengthy hiatus from the PGA Tour. He last teed up at the U.S. Open more than a month ago and has played just 10 competitive rounds since winning the Masters in April. The rust showed on Thursday when Woods shot a disappointing seven-over 78 and all but eliminated himself from contention after just 18 holes.

Needing a strong round on Friday just to make the cut, Woods started the round like he did his first one, by pulling his opening tee shot to the left, barely staying in bounds. With 160 yards left to the hole, he found the green with his second shot and rolled in a 30-foot putt for birdie, just the quick start he needed. He made another 30-footer for birdie at the par-three sixth hole to go two-under on his round and give hope to the Northern Irish gallery that maybe, just maybe, he was about to pull off a miracle and stay around for the weekend.

Those hopes were dashed on the next hole. Woods hit a solid drive down the center of the fairway on the 592-yard, par-five seventh, but he pulled his second shot into the gallery and could barely advance the ball on his third shot. After missing a 10-foot par putt he fell back to six-over.

Two straight birdies on holes 10 and 11 got him back to four-over, but frustration started to set in as the holes began to run out. When he hit his second shot at the 17th into the thick grass by the grandstands, Woods angrily swung his club and unleashed some choice words for the ball that just wouldn’t obey his commands this week. He made bogey, then at the 18th, his hopes all but gone, he came up 20 feet short with his approach and finished with another bogey. Woods is currently in a tie for 130th place with the projected cut line at two-over.

Speaking after his first round, Woods didn’t try to hide the reason for his struggles. While he looked like his old self on that Sunday at Augusta National three months ago, the past two days Woods looked every bit like a 43-year-old with four back surgeries. The chilly, rainy conditions at Royal Portrush didn’t help. “Just the way it is,” Woods said on Thursday. “Father Time and some procedures I’ve had over time. Just the way it’s going to be.”

Woods will miss the cut at a major for the second time this year, only the second time in his professional career he’s failed to make the weekend twice. Both times he missed the cut this year, at the Open Championship and the PGA Championship, he was coming off a month-long break in between majors. He’s about to take another break, too, saying after his round he won’t play at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational next week.

“I just want some time off, just to get away from it,” he said.

Woods admitted earlier this week that the Masters win took a lot out of him. Now that another season of major championships is behind him, he can reflect that maybe that fifth Green Jacket was worth a lackluster showing in the other three tournaments. And he’ll get a nice break before he has to contend for a major again: the Masters doesn’t begin for another nine months.