Woods misses cut with below par show
Louisville ( US), Aug. 9: Former world number one Tiger Woods missed the cut at the PGA Championship, firing his second consecutive three- over- par 74 at Valhalla Golf Club here.
Woods finished on sixover 148 for 36 holes on Friday, five back of the projected cut with too many people in the clubhouse ahead of him to have any chance at qualifying for the final two rounds.
The round ends a week of drama about the health of Woods, who withdrew from the final round at last week’s World Golf Championships event in Akron, Ohio, with a back injury.
Woods, a 14- time major champion chasing the alltime record of 18 majors won by Jack Nicklaus, spent two days in Florida receiving treatment and evaluation, his status in doubt for the year’s final major tournament.
It was not until Wednesday afternoon that Woods arrived at Valhalla, played a nine- hole practice round and declared himself fit to play, saying his recent back issue had no connection to the back surgery he underwent March 31 to ease pressure on a pinched nerve.
But Woods struggled on Day One and by his Friday afternoon tee time was in a fight to make the cut.
Woods took a bogey at the fourth after finding a fairway bunker and sent tee shots way left on his way to a double bogey at the sixth and bogey at seventh, leaving him seven- over for the event and six strokes off the cut line.
It was after his second shot at the par- 5 seventh that Woods grimaced moments after hitting the ball, a sign that his back issues had returned.
But Woods ran off seven pars in a row until making a 10- foot birdie putt at 15, going 25 holes between birdies for the event. He took a bogey at 16 but finished with a six- foot birdie at 18.
Woods failed to qualify for the US Ryder Cup squad that will face holders Europe next month, although American captain Tom Watson said he would select Woods with a captain’s pick if Woods were healthy.
Woods is almost certain to miss the US PGA playoffs as well, which could mean six weeks without competition heading into the trophy showdown at Gleneagles, Scotland. India’s Anirban Lahiri missed the cut by a fair margin. Lahiri scored a second round 73 to get to three- over 145. He bogeyed the first, fourth, sixth, eighth and the 14th. He birdied the third, 10th and 15th.