Putter goes cold, Woods struggles
San Francisco, Aug. 8: After Friday’s barrage of misreads, short misses and rim-outs on greens he could not figure out, Tiger Woods might want to go back to his old putter. And find a new sand wedge while he’s at it.
Woods, who got under par on Day 1 of the PGA Championship by swapping his usual putter for one that was a little longer, ended up in a battle simply to make the cut in the second round. He shot 2-over
72 to finish at even par at the midway point at Harding Park. He is eight shots behind leader Haotong Li.
Most of the problems had to do with his putting.
I really struggled with getting the speed of the greens today, he said. They looked faster than what they were putting. They were firm coming into the greens, but they weren’t putting as fast as they looked. And then as the day wore on, they got a little more fuzzy and got even slower.
On Day 1, he made 141 feet worth of putts. On Day
2, the grand total was 52 feet, and that was with the help of 12 footer on No. 16 that looked more like 50 considering the way the rest of the round had gone.
The rough putting day contributed to an 0-for-5 performance in the sandsave category, which brought him to 0 for 7 for the tournament.
A day that began with legitimate thoughts of Woods capturing his 16th major ended with him needing to play the last three holes at even par or better simply to make the cut.
He did, but there are eight shots and more than three dozen players separating himself and Li. An improbable gap to make up under the best of circumstances. Impossible if he keeps putting like that.
You give it a run, but it’s just not rolling out, Woods said.
He complained that the practice green has been rolling faster than the greens on the course all week. Sure enough, the trouble started right away. On the first hole, he lined up an 8-footer, expecting it to move slightly to the right as it approached the hole.