Tiger Woods staring down cut reality after PGA Championship Day 2 start
Tiger Woods was not immune from the chaos at Day 2 of the PGA Championship.
The iconic golfer’s second round began hours after Scottie Scheffler’s stunning early morning arrest, and it quickly went wrong for Woods.
The 48-year-old snagged par on the four-stroke, 495-yard first hole, but unraveled on the second, scoring a 7 on the par-4, 485-yard hole.
His drive went left, landing in the tall grass flanking the fairway.
He was unable to get back on with his second shot, a dropped ball hit from the sloping round that landed short of the sand trap — which an attempt to clear with his third shot only saw him fall into.
Getting out of the trap proved difficult as well, as he overshot the green and landed in the sand on the other side of the hole.
A chip and a putt mercifully ended the hole with a triple bogey.
On the par-3 third hole, Woods found the green off the tee box but left himself with a long putt that needed three attempts to sink it — including the second shot that went on the edge of the cup.
The next hole, a 359-yard par 4, provided no respite: A good drive was followed by a shot that rolled downhill into the rough, and the ensuing attempt to clear the sand trap saw him once again take a trip to the beach.
Woods was seen exhaling deeply, almost as if he knew what was coming next.
His first attempt to get out of the trap did not succeed, bouncing off the lip and rolling back at him.
His second landed within feet of the hole on the green, but his putt went just to the side of the cup, setting up one final tap-in for a second triple bogey in the round.
Woods was able to bag par on holes 5 and 6 and seemed to find a groove in doing so, posting eagles on 7 and 8 — nearly acing the par-3 hole.
He finished the front 9 with another par.
He’ll have to channel his younger self and string together more birdies to get himself back into the mix — the current project cut is -1, and Woods entered the day at +1.
Ending the first half of his round at +5 isn’t going to help.