-
Mark Schlabach, ESPN Senior Writer
TROON, Scotland — Tiger Woods‘ major championship season ended with another missed cut in the 152nd Open Championship on Friday, and golf fans won’t see him again on the PGA Tour this season.
Woods carded a 6-over 77 in the second round at Royal Troon Golf Club, leaving him with a 36-hole total of 14-over 156. The projected cut line was 4 over.
Woods has now missed the cut or withdrawn in six of his past seven majors.
It was Woods’ worst score to par after the first two rounds in 23 starts at The Open; his previous worst was 9 over after 36 holes at St. Andrews in Scotland in 2022.
It was his second-worst score to par 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, during the only other stretch in his career when he has missed the cut in three straight majors.
The fifteen-time major champion was tied for 149th when he walked off the course, ahead of only four of the 153 other golfers competing in the last major of the season.
“Well, it wasn’t very good,” Woods said. “I made a double there at 2 right out of the hopper when I needed to go the other way. Just was fighting it pretty much all day. I never really hit it close enough to make birdies and consequently made a lot of bogeys.”
Woods, 48, said he won’t compete again until the Hero World Challenge, an unofficial event he hosts in the Bahamas, Dec. 5-8. 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 was hoping for. After setting a Masters record with his 24th consecutive made cut and finishing 60th at Augusta National Golf Club in April, he missed the cut at the PGA Championship, U.S. Open and The Open.
“I loved it,” Woods said. “I’ve always loved playing major championships. I just wish I was more physically sharp coming into the majors. Obviously, it tests you mentally, physically, emotionally, and I just wasn’t as sharp as I needed to be. I was hoping that I would find it somehow, just never did.”
Woods competed in just one other PGA Tour event this season, the Genesis Invitational outside Los Angeles in February, and he had to withdraw in the second round there because of illness.
“I’d like to have played more, but I just wanted to make sure that I was able to play the major championships this year,” Woods said. “I got a lot of time off to get better, to be better physically, which has been the case all year.
“I’ve gotten better, even though my results really haven’t shown it, but physically I’ve gotten better, which is great. I just need to keep progressing like that and then eventually start playing more competitively and start getting into kind of the competitive flow again.”
After posting an 8-over 79 in the first round, Woods wasn’t much better Friday. He made a 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 at 3-over 39, Woods made three more bogeys on Nos. 12, 14 and 17. He missed a 3½-foot par putt on the par-3 14th.
Over two rounds, Woods was 7 over on the par-3s, which ranked next-to-last in the field. He lost 3.77 strokes to the field in putting and 4.19 on approach.
“Yeah, anytime being 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 great competitor and fun to be with. We had a great pairing, especially having my buddy Xander in the group. The three of us had fun.”
Cantlay, who was 1 under after carding a 3-under 68 on Friday, was asked whether he had any sympathy for Woods’ plight since returning to competition after serious injuries he suffered in a car wreck in February 2021.
“I wasn’t out on tour [in the] early 2000s,” Cantlay said. “I’m sure those guys don’t have any sympathy after going through what they went through. I’m always pulling for him, as I think the rest of the world of golf is.”
