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Mark Schlabach, ESPN Senior Writer
TROON, Scotland — Tiger Woods’ major championship season ended with another missed cut at the 152nd Open Championship on Friday, and golf fans won’t see him again on the PGA Tour this season.
Woods card 6-over 77 in the second round at Royal Troon Golf Club, leaving him with a total of 36-holes 14-over 156. The cut line is projected to be 4 over.
Woods has now missed the cut or withdrawn in six of the past seven majors.
It was Woods’ worst score for par after the first two rounds in 23 starts at The Open; worst before 9 over after 36 holes at St Andrews in Scotland in 2022.
It was his second-worst score after 36 holes in a major — he was 16 over in two rounds at the 2015 U.S. Open at Chambers Bay in University Place, Washington, the other time in his career when he missed. Cut in three degrees straight.
The fifteen-time major champion was tied for 149th when he exited the field, four more than the 153 other golfers who competed in major tournaments last season.
“Well, it’s not very good,” Woods said. “I made a double there in 2 right out of the hopper when I needed to go the other way. It’s just a fight it’s pretty much all day. I never really hit it close enough to make a birdie and consequently made a lot of bogeys.”
Woods, 48, said he will not compete again until the Hero World Challenge, an unofficial event he hosts in the Bahamas, 5-8. December. He also plans to compete in the PNC Championship — another unofficial event — in Orlando, Florida, with his son, Charlie, Dec. 19-22. Woods was able to compete in each of the four majors this season but didn’t get the results he wanted. After setting a Masters record with his 24th consecutive cut and finishing 60th at Augusta National Golf Club in April, he missed the PGA Championship, the US Open and the Open.
“I’m very happy,” Woods said. “I always like to play major championships. I just wish I was more physically clear coming to the majors. Obviously, it tests you mentally, physically, emotionally, and I’m just not as clear as I needed to be. I hope that I will find it, just never.”
Woods competed in just one PGA Tour event this season, the Genesis Invitational outside Los Angeles in February, and he had to withdraw in the second round due to illness.
“I want to play more, but I just want to make sure I can play in the majors this year,” Woods said. “I got a lot of time to get better, to get better physically, which has been happening all year.
“I’ve gotten better, although my results don’t really show it, but physically I’m getting better, which is great. I just have to keep going like that and finally start playing competitively and start getting good. from the competitive flow again.”
After posting an 8-over 79 in the first round, Woods didn’t fare much better on Friday. He made double bogey on the par-4 second after missing a 4-foot bogey putt. After draining a 22-foot birdie on No. 6, Woods picked up another bogey when he missed a 5-footer on No. 9.
After making the turn in 3-over 39, Woods made three more bogeys on No. 12, 14 and 17. He missed a 3½-foot par putt on the par-3 14th.
Over two rounds, Woods is 7 over on par-3s, which ranks next-to-last in the field. He lost 3.77 strokes in the field when putting and 4.19 when approaching.
“Yeah, any time you go out with Tiger is great,” said Patrick Cantlay, who played with Woods and PGA Championship winner Xander Schauffele in the first two rounds. “He’s a good competitor and it’s fun. We have a good couple, especially having Xander’s friend in the group. The three of us have fun.”
Cantlay, who is 1 under after carding a 3-under 68 on Friday, was asked if he had any sympathy for Woods’ plight since returning to competition after serious injuries sustained in a car accident in February 2021.
“I didn’t go out on tour (in) the early 2000s,” Cantlay said. “I’m sure they have no sympathy after going through what he went through. I’m always pulling for him, as I think the rest of the golf world.”
