LATEST FROM WORLD OF GOLF
Tiger Woods made the halfway cut in a tournament for the first time since the 2015 Wyndham Championship, when he qualified for the weekend of the Farmers Insurance Open after carding a second-round score of 71.
The 42-year-old hit a level-par 72 in his opening round at Torrey Pines on Thursday – his first taste of PGA Tour action for 12 months.
However, the 14-time major winner, who started on the 10th on Friday, lost ground with a doublebogey on the par-four 13th and was forced to fight back.
Woods made four birdies and a bogey on his back nine to finish one under par and tied for 65th – narrowly above the projected cut line.
Woods later said: “It was a grind. I fought hard, typical – just me going out there fighting for whatever I can get and it felt good.”
He added: “My short game has been good all week – that part has been good, solid.
“It was just trying to get used to the firmness of the green – we can hear the ball land from the fairway. That’s normally not the
case. Pretty difficult.”
He said all aspects of his game will benefit from going into the weekend after making his first cut in 888 days.
“I’ve been away from the game for a couple of years, so it’s nice to get out there and just compete again.
“Hopefully I’ll be around for the weekend, be able to compete and play and keep building,” he added.
American Ryan Palmer is leading the pack at the halfway stage after a round of five-under 67 to sit on 11-under overall and one shot ahead of world No. 2 and defending champion Jon Rahm.
Toy Finau, who was top of the leaderboard after day one, slipped two places to tie for third at nine-under after 36 holes.
While the vast crowds at Torrey Pines were undoubtedly following Tiger Woods, another superstar, Phil Mickelson, also drew a decent-sized gallery.
And as he so often does, Lefty, who grew up in the San Diego area, rewarded one of them with a drive that got a little too close for comfort.
As always, that wayward drive came with a signed glove, and a friendly apology, from one of the most-famous faces on the PGA Tour – a sight that’s been seen so many times, it’s almost not worth pointing out.
Then again, this is the one and only Phil Mickelson. You never know what he’s got up his sleeve next. Case in point, he signed the glove: “Next time, duck!”