Woods makes cut, but trails McIlroy by 14 shots

Associated Press

HOYLAKE, ENGLAND

As his tee shot curled farther and farther away from the 17th fairway, heading toward all sorts of trouble, Tiger Woods simply stuffed his club in the bag.

He appeared to mumble something to himself, but that was about it.

No fiery outburst. No course language. No complaints about someone talking too loud, or being on the phone, or snapping a picture.

Shoulders slumping, Woods looked as though he had accepted his fate.

There won’t be a 15th major championship.

Not at this British Open.

Woods needed a birdie at the final hole — his only one of the day — just to make the cut. He walked off the 18th with a 5-over 77, his worst Open round since that stormy day at Muirfield in 2002, and headed to the weekend a staggering 14 shots behind the leader, Rory McIlroy.

“Not very good,” Woods said.

Indeed, it wasn’t.

Woods made double-bogey at the first hole, a bogey at the second. Just like that, all the good vibes from a 69 in the opening round were wiped away, his score tumbling to even par. From there, it was a grind — 14 pars in a row as McIlroy pulled away.

Then came the 17th, where Woods made such a mess of things, he nearly missed the cut at a major for only the fourth time in his professional career. That aforementioned tee shot sailed out of bounds right of the fairway, though Woods didn’t realize it until he had walked some 150 yards toward his ball.

Back to the tee box he trudged, to hit another after taking a one-stroke penalty. This time, Woods yanked it off in the tall grass to the left, between the 16th and 17th fairways. Four more shots were required to finish off a triple-bogey 7 that nearly finished off his hopes of getting in two more much-needed rounds.

Clearly, Woods is rusty after undergoing back surgery on March 31. He missed the Masters and the U.S. Open, finally returning to action at Congressional three weeks ago. He missed the cut in that event, and his opening round at Hoylake — five birdies in six holes on the back side — was merely an aberration.

There’s a lot of work to do.

“I had some opportunities to make a few birdies along the way to get back to even par for the day, and I just never did,” Woods said. “I just never made anything. I had myself in good positions to make birdies, and I just didn’t do it.”

More distressing for those in the Woods camp, his body language looked more and more defeated as McIlroy kept adding to what was a mere three-shot lead over Woods at the start of the round.

“I’m pretty far back,” Woods conceded. “Luckily I’ve got two rounds to go. And hopefully I can do something like Paul did in ‘99. He made up, I think, 10 in one day. Hopefully I can play well on the weekend and at least give myself a shot at it going to the back nine on Sunday.”

Actually, Woods’ rehabilitation would seem to be a longer-term project.