A CUT ABOVE
Tiger rallies to make it to weekend at Torrey Pines
LA JOLLA, Calif. — When Patrick Reed got word on Tuesday that he was going to be grouped with Tiger Woods for the f irst two rounds of this week’s Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines, he said he “got 50,000 questions about Tiger.’’
“And then,’’ Reed said, “all I heard about was that he hit the fairway on the f irst hole of the day in the pro-am and he made birdie. So I texted him and said, ‘Hey, I expect you to wow me today.’ ’’
Well, Woods didn’t “wow’’ anyone the last two days, but that was neither his goal nor his expectation.
Other than not throwing his back out again, the single most important goal for Woods this week was making the cut and playing all 72 holes of this tournament. More than anything, Woods needs reps after being away from the game for a year following his fourth back surgery.
And reps he will get over the weekend after clawing his way to make the cut Friday, rallying to a 1-under-par 71 on the North Course to stand at 1-under for the tournament and 10 shots behind leader Ryan Palmer, who’s 11-under. Woods birdied three of his f inal five holes en route to survival.
Friday marked the f irst time Woods has made a 36-hole cut since 2015, when he finished tied for 10th at the Wyndham Championship.
And this was anything but easy for Woods, who owns the alltime record for most consecutive cuts made with 142.
Woods, who began his second round on the North Course No. 10, made the turn at 2-over with the cut at 1-under and had a lot of work to do. Birdies on No. 5, his 14th hole, No. 7, his 16th, and No. 9, his final hole, got him to 1-under and a Saturday morning tee time on the South Course.
“I just fought hard,’’ Woods said. “That’s something that I’ve done my entire career and this is no different. It was tough out there. I didn’t quite hit it as good as I would like to. I fought hard. I was trying to post a number, which I was able to do.’’
For much of the day, Woods looked like he was going home early.
It appeared he doomed his chances of making the cut when, on No. 13, Woods snapped his drive into a canyon to the left of the fairway and had to take a drop. That led to his only double bogey of the week and it put his chances to make the cut in serious peril. Suddenly, he was 2-over, three shots off the cut line.
His round hit its peak of frustration on the 16th hole, where Woods scorched a drive down the middle of the fairway and, with a wedge in hand, overshot the flag on the green by about 45 feet.
A fan from outside the ropes blurted out, “Come on, Tiger, you can do better than that.’’
Woods angrily flipped his wedge toward his bag and marched to the green, seething, before two-putting for another disappointing par.
He made the turn at 2-over and three shots outside of the cut.
Woods f inally broke through with his f irst birdie of the day, on the par-f ive f irst hole, to get to 1-over.
“It was nice to get one to fall in there and get something positive going into the back nine,’’ he said. “I knew I needed to get to probably 2-under par to be safe.’’
He never got to 2-under, but he did scratch back to 1-under thanks to three consecutive nifty up-and-downs — on Nos. 5 (birdie), 6 (par save) and 7 (birdie).
Other than the fact he looks completely healthy, the one takeaway from this week has been how sharp Woods’ short game has looked. It saved him Friday as Woods hit just 3-of-14 fairways and 8-of-18 greens. Woods hit only one fairway on his final nine holes and made three birdies despite that.
“His short game looked good and he looks good and healthy,’’ Charley Hoffmann, one of Woods’ playing partners the last two days, said.
“His short game looked good and he hit some really quality tee shots,’’ Reed said. “It was only a matter of time he would get hot at some point make some putts.’’
The importance of earning two more rounds this weekend was not lost on Woods.
“It’s one thing to do it at home,’’ he said. “It’s totally another thing to do it out here. Hopefully, tomorrow I can go out and post a low score.’’