Woods drops out of contention
AUGUSTA, Ga. - Tiger Woods made the cut at his first Masters in three years.
Woods shot a three-over 75 Friday in the second round and was 4 over heading into the weekend. The 75 matched his second-worst score at the Masters.
He’ll head to Saturday a daunting 13 shots behind front-running Patrick Reed.
The largest 36-hole comeback at the Masters was Jack Burke Jr. rallying from eight shots down to beat
Ken Venturi in 1956, and only because the amateur soared to an 80 on the final day.
“I need help. I’m not in control of my own destiny,” the 42-year-old Woods said. “I’m so far back.”
Since 1900, only 18 players have won a major championship at age 42 and older. The only member of that group to win twice is Julius Boros, who was 43 when he captured the 1963 U.S. Open and, at age 48, became the oldest major champion with his victory at the 1968 PGA Championship.
The par-3 fourth hole again showed that Woods just didn’t have good command of his iron yardages early this week.
That’s tough on everyone at Augusta, especially when the wind was whipping as hard as it was at times Friday. His tee shot was on line with the pin Thursday and came up short in the bunker. Friday he was on a good line again but went way long, his ball finally coming to rest on the fifth tee box.
Woods hit a great recovery chip and escaped with a par, but the good vibes didn’t last long. His tee shot at the par-4 fifth was well right but still playable. Then he hit his most damaging shot of the afternoon long and left of the green, into the trees and unplayable.
“I hit a crap shot,” Woods said. “It was a bad shot. It was like the (chip) shot I hit at 1. Same shot with a longer club.”
He made double bogey from there, and any hopes of a Friday charge were over.
“I hit my irons awful today,” Woods said. “I didn’t control my distance, my shape, spins. I left myself in bad spots. … And (hit) a lot of beautiful putts and didn’t make anything.”
A long day: After 18 holes of the 82nd Masters Tournament, Phil
Mickelson was in good position to make a run at Jack Nicklaus’ record for oldest champion at Augusta National, as the 47-year-old sat at 2 under and four shots off the lead.
A day later, Mickelson instead tied another record, this one of his own.
Mickelson shot 7-over 79 to plummet down the leader board on a windy, difficult scoring day in Augusta and tied the worst Masters score of his career. Mickelson also carded a second-round 79 in 2016 to miss the cut.
His hopes of winning a fourth green jacket and breaking Nicklaus’ record are all but crushed.
“There’s a fine line between wanting it so bad and then also letting it kind of happen,” Mickelson said.
“As you get older you feel a little bit more pressure each one because you don’t feel as though you have unlimited number of events. So given how well I was playing heading into this, I certainly put a lot of pressure on myself to perform this week and get it, because I know the opportunities here are lessening here and especially given as well as I’ve been playing, I thought this was a great year, a great opportunity.”
Spieth stays calm: Given Jordan Spieth’s experiences at Augusta National, there was no reason to panic.
It was the front nine. It was the second round. It was nowhere near the worst he’s been through at the Masters.
So Spieth remained calm despite losing a two-shot lead on the first two holes. He excused it as typical “punches” from a daunting golf course in difficult conditions. He responded by making two birdies over the final six holes, helping him recover from the inauspicious start.
He finished with a 2-over 74 that left him 4 under for the tournament.
“I’m still in this golf tournament,” he said.
Daly’s bus hit: You can’t make this
up.
John Daly’s bus was hit by a car while parked outside a Hooters restaurant near the site of the Masters.
Daly parks a bus in the same spot on Washington Road in Augusta, Ga., every year during Masters week selling merchandise.
It appears no one was seriously hurt in the crash. Daly said his knee may have been injured while he was jumping out of the way and added he plans to have a MRI. The bus, meanwhile, had just been repaired following storm damage it suffered last year.
“Hopefully I’ll be ready to play (golf) next week,” Daly said.
Daly said a woman was attempting to make a U-turn on Washington Road when she apparently lost control, crashing into the parking lot area.