TURNBERRY, Scotland — Tiger Woods was unlikely to make the British Open cut after shooting a 4-over 74 in the second round Friday.
Woods had missed only one cut in a major since turning pro, and that was after the death of his father at the 2006 U.S. Open. But two double bogeys on the back side made it highly improbable he would get through to the weekend, even after he birdied two of the last three holes.
“Unfortunately, it just didn’t happen,” Woods said. “No doubt I’m frustrated. I was playing well the first seven holes, right there in the championship. I felt like if I was under par for the tournament, I would be in the top 10. I didn’t do that. I went the other way.”
The top 70, plus ties, make it to the final two rounds. When Woods walked off the course, he was tied for 77th at 5-over 145.
The British Open doesn’t have a 10-shot rule, which would allow anyone within 10 strokes of the lead to make the cut. Woods was 10 shots behind co-leaders Steve Marino and Tom Watson, but that doesn’t matter at Turnberry.
Since the ’06 miss at Winged Foot, Woods had made the cut in 43 consecutive tournaments worldwide.
He opened with a disappointing 71 in much better conditions Thursday, was still in decent shape when he made the turn at 1-over 36, then began to fall apart after the turn.
His tee shot at No. 10 sailed wildly into the tall grass far right of the fairway — a familiar problem both days — and it was clear he was in trouble when he struck a provisional tee shot. Even with dozens of fans helping him look, Woods could only find someone else’s ball, took a penalty and wound up with a double-bogey six.
He took bogey at the 12th after driving into a fairway bunker, then had another double at 13. He was only 159 yards away in the first cut of rough after his tee shot, then needed five more strokes to get down. A ragged approach missed the green, a sloppy chip failed to stay on, and a missed putt from about five feet sent him tumbling into an even deeper hole.
“I hit two bad three-woods in a row,” Woods said. “I lost them both to the right. With a left-to-right wind, you can’t do that. You’ve got to turn them over, and I didn’t do that.”