Trek of the Woods
Tiger bounces back from early struggles, makes cut
Tiger Woods has weekend plans. Playing on a battered right leg from his car crash 15 months ago, Woods was outside the cut line for the PGA Championship after a double bogey on the par-3 11th hole. He played the final seven holes with two birdies and a pair of 15-foot par saves for a 69 to make it with one shot to spare.
Woods looked to be headed home after his double bogey on the par-3 11th, where he went from the high grass framing a stream to the bunker on the other side of the green. And then he saved par from a bunker on No. 12, hit wedge to 4 feet for birdie on the par-5 13th, saved par with another 15-footer on the next hole and hit his best shot on the 16th to 4 feet.
“I had to go grind and go to work, and I did,” Woods said. “Hopefully, I can get a hot weekend and you never know.”
Hot is a popular term in these parts, particularly with memories of 100-plus degrees in August when the PGA was last at Southern Hills in 2007 and Woods won by two. For Saturday, the temperatures were forecast for the low 60s.
Watch your head
Some of the intrigue heading into the PGA Championship at Southern Hills had to do with the compact nature of the grand old layout, where greens are often so close to tees that players get in logjams waiting for each other.
Turned out it was two relatively wide open areas of the course where noteworthy people got hit.
In one case, it was one contender hitting another player.
That happened on the par-4 second hole Friday when Cameron Smith, fresh off a birdie to open his round, hit a wild tee shot that sailed over the trees and into the seventh fairway. The ball wound up striking Aaron Wise, who had opened with a 69 and was on his way toward a second-round 72 that left him 1 over for the championship.
Wise, who was seen holding a water bottle on top of his noggin, managed to par the seventh hole. He also parred the long par-3 eighth before making bogey from the bunker on the final hole and heading in for some treatment.
Wise’s management team said he was doing well and expected to play Saturday. Smith wound up shooting 70 on Friday and was 2 under for the tournament.
Meanwhile, ESPN anchor Sage Steele was flying home to Connecticut on Friday after she was struck in the face by Jon Rahm’s tee shot and needed medical attention during the opening round of the tournament.
Steele was covering the PGA for “SportsCenter” and was finished for the day, so she headed onto the course to watch Rahm’s grouping with Collin Morikawa and Scottie Scheffler. That’s when Rahm hooked his shot and, despite frantically waving to warn fans in that direction, the ball hit Steele near her nose and mouth about 280 yards away.
Steele, who also has hosted “SportsCenter” from the Masters, is expected to make a full recovery.
Heading home
For the second time in three years, no club professionals made the cut at the PGA Championship.
The closest was Matthew Borchert, the pro at Isleworth in Windermere, Florida, who followed up his firstround 73 with 74 on Friday. That left him 7-over par and three above the cut line, which landed at plus 4.
Jesse Mueller, an assistant coach at Grand Canyon University, had the best round among the 20 club pros when he holed out for eagle on his first hole and shot 72 on Thursday. Mueller shot 78 on Friday.
Hazardous stuff
There’s a reason bunkers are considered hazards: They’re supposed to be hard. Yet most pros are so proficient out of the sand that they sometimes prefer hitting there rather than into the rough that surrounds the green.
The bunkers at Southern Hills have been causing some problems, though.
“The individual grains of sand, they’re huge compared to the norm,” said Talor Gooch, who holed out from a bunker in the first round. “I was not trying to land that in the hole; I got really, really fortunate there. It’s a little bit of a guessing game, and a little bit of just good fortune. I think that’s why they’re a hazard. That’s just part of the game.”