Tiger Woods on missing cut at PGA Championship: ‘Just didn’t quite have it’

Late Friday afternoon, just as the ominous gray clouds lifted over the PGA Championship, the last vestiges of Masters magic burned away.

Tiger Woods missed the cut.

He didn’t miss by much — one stroke over 36 holes — but the reality landed with a thud, considering the uplifting effect of his stirring victory at Augusta National a month before. He looked closer to his age Friday, his 43-year-old body unable to turn and lash the golf ball into the next ZIP code as he once could.

“Well, I’m not playing the weekend,” he said, after a day when he hit just three of 14 fairways, seven fewer than in the opening round. “That’s disappointing. Just didn’t quite — just didn’t quite have it.”

He shot a three-over-par 73 on Friday, putting him at five over for the tournament when the cut line was plus-four. His last-gasp opportunity came on No. 18, the least-imposing hole at Bethpage Black, but his approach from 113 yards hit the front of the green and spun back into the intermediate rough. He missed on his Hail Mary chip from 40 feet and wound up five feet from the cup. He made that for par, but it wasn’t enough.

His undoing happened at the turn, when he opened the back nine with bogeys on four of the first five holes.

Woods, who was among the favorites to win coming off the Masters, said he “made too many mistakes and just didn’t do the little things I need to do. You know, I had a couple three-putts. I didn’t hit wedges close. I didn’t hit any fairways today. Did a lot of little things wrong.”

There will be plenty of second-guessing, maybe not by Woods but by those on the outside, about his decision to sit out a month after Augusta, risking his momentum coming out of that major championship.

Asked if he had regrets about resting, he said: “No, no, no. Definitely not. You know, I’m the Masters champion and 43 years old and that’s a pretty good accomplishment.”

Casting Woods’ struggles in even sharper relief was the fact he was playing with the scorching Brooks Koepka, who is not only the defending PGA champion but has won the last two U.S. Opens — and finished a shot behind Woods at Augusta.

Koepka followed his opening-round 63 with a 65 on Friday, for the lowest 36-hole score (128) in majors history. That beats the previous record, held by several golfers, by two strokes.

After two rounds, Koepka has a seven-shot lead over Jordan Spieth and Adam Scott.

“What Brooksy did, he’s driving it 330 yards in the middle of the fairway,” Woods said. “He’s got nine-irons when most of us are hitting five-irons, four-irons, and he’s putting well. That adds up to a pretty substantial lead, and if he keeps doing what he’s doing, there’s no reason why he can’t build on this lead.”

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Ian Poulter of Egnland on the 15th hole during the second round of the 2019 PGA Championship at the Bethpage Black course in Farmingdale, New York.

  (JUSTIN LANE / EPA / REX / Shutterstock)

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Jon Rahm of Spain plays his second shot on the 18th hole during the second round of the 2019 PGA Championship at the Bethpage Black course in Farmingdale, New York.

  (Jamie Squire / Getty Images)

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The crowd reacts as Dustin Johnson of the United States birdies on the 16th green during the second round of the 2019 PGA Championship at the Bethpage Black course in Farmingdale, New York.

  (Stuart Franklin / Getty Images)

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Phil Mickelson of the United States plays his shot on the tenth hole during the second round of the 2019 PGA Championship at the Bethpage Black course in Farmingdale, New York.

  (Patrick Smith / Getty Images)

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Jordan Spieth plays his shot from the 16th tee during the second round of the 2019 PGA Championship at the Bethpage Black course in Farmingdale, New York.

  (Ross Kinnaird / Getty Images)

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Jason Day of Australia plays his second shot on the 13th hole during the second round of the 2019 PGA Championship at the Bethpage Black course in Farmingdale, New York.

  (Patrick Smith / Getty Images)

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Gary Woodland of the United States prepares to play his shot from the 12th tee during the second round of the 2019 PGA Championship at the Bethpage Black course in Farmingdale, New York.

  (Stuart Franklin / Getty Images)

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Jordan Spieth hits out of the rough on the 13th hole during the second round of the 2019 PGA Championship at the Bethpage Black course in Farmingdale, N.Y.

  (Seth Wenig / Associated Press)

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Bryson DeChambeau of the U.S. lines up a putt on the 13th green during the second round of the 2019 PGA Championship at the Bethpage Black course in Farmingdale, N.Y.

  (Seth Wenig / Associated Press)

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Jon Rahm of Spain hits out of a bunker on the 13th hole during the second round of the 2019 PGA Championship at the Bethpage Black course in Farmingdale, N.Y.

  (Seth Wenig / Associated Press)

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Dustin Johnson greets fans as he walks off the 18th green after finishing the first round of the PGA Championship at Bethpage Black in Farmingdale, N.Y.

  (Andres Kudacki / Associated Press)

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Brooks Koepka watches his putt drop for a birdie on the ninth hole during the first round of the PGA Championship at Bethpage Black in Farmingdale, N.Y.

  (Julio Cortez / Associated Press)

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Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland reacts to his putt on the 11th green during the first round of the 2019 PGA Championship at the Bethpage Black course in Farmingdale, N.Y.

  (Stuart Franklin / Getty Images)

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Phil Mickelson walks down to hit out of a bunker on the 18th fairway during the first round of the 2019 PGA Championship at the Bethpage Black course in Farmingdale, N.Y.

  (Andres Kudacki / Associated Press)

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Tiger Woods lines up a putt on the 11th green during the first round of the 2019 PGA Championship at the Bethpage Black course in Farmingdale, N.Y.

  (Patrick Smith / Getty Images)

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Rickie Fowler plays his shot from the 17th tee on May 16 during the first round of the 2019 PGA Championship.

  (Jamie Squire / Getty Images)

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England’s Tommy Fleetwood plays a shot from the 12th tee on the Bethpage Black course.

  (Stuart Franklin / Getty Images)

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U.S. player Charley Hoffman plays a shot from a bunker on the 17th hole during the first round of the major.

  (Jamie Squire / Getty Images)

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Patrick Reed, winner of the 2018 Masters Tournament, walks from the 13th tee at the tournament in Farmingdale, N.Y.

  (Jamie Squire / Getty Images)

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Tiger Woods, winner of the 2019 Masters Tournament, plays his shot from the 12th tee during the first round of the PGA Championship.

  (Stuart Franklin / Getty Images)

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Bubba Watson uses his driver for his second shot on the 13th hole.

  (Jamie Squire / Getty Images)

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Graeme McDowell, of Northern Ireland, plays an approach on the second hole during the first round May 16.

  (Ross Kinnaird / Getty Images)

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U.S. player Rickie Fowler plays his second shot on the 13th hole. Fowler was winner, in February, of the Phoenix Open.

  (Jamie Squire / Getty Images)

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In the first round, Tiger Woods tees off on the 10th hole.

  (Charles Krupa / Associated Press)

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Tiger Woods and Brooks Koepka of the United States, followed by Francesco Molinari of Italy, walk down the 13th hole at Bethpage Black.

  (Patrick Smith / Getty Images)

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Justin Rose, of England, plays his shot from the 12th tee.

  (Stuart Franklin / Getty Images)

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Brooks Koepka reacts to his shot from a bunker on the 13th hole.

  (Patrick Smith / Getty Images)

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The U.S.’ Richy Werenski plays his shot from the second tee during the first round of the 2019 PGA Championship at the Bethpage Black course in Farmingdale, N.Y.

  (Mike Ehrmann / Getty Images)

Although there were some light showers Friday, the skies have yet to truly rain as was forecast earlier in the week. Still, the moisture could help produce some low scores during the weekend round — particularly for Koepka, Woods said.

“The golf course is soft enough where the power helps,” he said. “So when he did miss the fairway, he missed it far enough down there where he was still able to hit wedges and nine-irons on the green, and on top of that, he missed on the correct sides. So he had good angles.”

As for Woods, who missed a practice round Wednesday and said he hasn’t felt well this week, he was subdued after missing the cut but didn’t sound deeply discouraged. He said he expects to be back up to speed and practicing soon, with the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach coming up in a month.

“I’ve got to start feeling a little bit better first before that happens,” he said of practicing. “We’ll do that first and then start cranking it back up again. I just wasn’t moving the way I needed to. That’s the way it goes. There’s going to be days and weeks where it’s just not going to work, and today was one of those days.”

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