Golf world gets its wish: Woods makes cut
SAN DIEGO — Tiger Woods stalked his 90-foot eagle putt as if a victory depended on how well he could cozy it up to the hole.
In a sense, the stakes were nearly as high as if was working to hoist a trophy.
Woods was grinding on Friday to make the weekend cut in the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines. After he reached the par-5 ninth green on the North Course in two shots on his 18th hole of the day, all indications were that he’d need to manage two putts for birdie to hang around for the weekend.
Since Woods hadn’t seen a scoreboard over the last nine holes, he didn’t know exactly where he stood, but he could probably sense it from the tense murmurs in the crowd. He had bogeyed the par-3 eighth to fall outside the cut bubble.
After a very long look on No. 9 green, Woods aligned himself to the ball, took his stroke, and a putt that looked too quick at the start ended up trickling to about 8 inches short of the cup.
Tap-in birdie. Paycheck in Woods’ future. Entire golf world breathing a sigh of relief.
Overcoming a wild day with the driver, Woods scored
a 1-under-par 71 to give him a 1under total for 36 holes. That fell exactly on the cut line.
Seventy-seven players were to begin the third round, with Ryan Palmer holding the lead after scoring 5-under 67 on the North Course to get to 11 under overall.
Defending Farmers Open champion Jon Rahm (66, North Course) was alone in second at 10 under, while Luke List (66, South Course) and Tony Finau (70, South) were 9 under.
Twelve months removed from playing in his last official PGA Tour event, here at Torrey Pines, Woods has a chance to truly feel a competitive buzz for the first time in 889 days — since he tied for 10th in the Wyndham Championship in August 2015.
“It was a grind. I fought hard,” Woods said. “Typical, you know, just me going out there and fighting for whatever I can get.
“Everyone’s so stacked up, anybody can win the tournament who makes the cut. Hopefully, tomorrow I can go out there and post a low number.”
Getting to the weekend was a huge step for Woods, and it was big for golf. Judging by the thousands of fans following Woods and the raucous enthusiasm they showed, Woods’ presence continues to take interest to another level.
“Unless you’re in a major championship, you don’t get big crowds,” said Charley Hoffman, who played in Woods’ group the first two days and stands at 3 under. “He brings people out there.
“There’s no question I’m rooting for Tiger Woods,” he added. “Obviously, on Sunday I want to beat him, but there’s not a person in this field that isn’t rooting for Tiger Woods to be back in the game and be competitive.”
When Woods said he fought to make the cut, he was talking about a full-on brawl with the North Course. The North’s fairways are narrowed to U.S. Open-width for the Farmers and rank among the hardest to hit on the PGA Tour.
It’s not a forgiving course for an uncooperative driver, and Woods’ club acted like a fitful 5year-old. He found only 3 of 14 of the fairways and many of the drives were 30 to 40 yards off line.
Quipped a scribe following Woods: “I was inside the ropes more than Tiger.”
The most damaging miss was a hook at the par-4 13th that flew into a Torrey Pines canyon, and Woods ended up with a double bogey to put him 2 over.
But Woods literally scrambled back. He saved par on seven of the nine holes where he missed the green, and he needed only 24 putts on extremely firm putting surfaces that are less than 2 years old after the North was refurbished.
Woods drained a 40-foot putt on his 10th hole — No. 1 — and produced a couple of vintage short shots. From difficult positions off the green at the sixth and seventh, his flop shots were perfectly judged and made for short birdie putts.
“My short game’s been good all week,” Woods said. “I’m just trying to get used to the firmness of the greens. We can hear the ball land from the fairway. ... They’re awfully springy and difficult.”
That condition contributed to Woods’ bogey on his 17th hole — the par-3 eighth — that put his weekend in danger. His tee shot came up terribly short, and while his chip looked good off the club, it scooted off the back of the green.
“It looked like it hit ice,” Woods said.
A bogey there set up the drama at No. 9, where Woods missed the fairway right, but got a good lie and launched an iron that took a fortuitous big bounce and rolled onto the green.