Woods Keeps His Place, and His Space, in a Swift Finish

His place in the players’ parking lot behind the clubhouse at Baltusrol Golf Club is marked by a sign installed for the PGA Championship.

Tiger Woods, it reads.

For the longest time, it seemed as if there were going to be an extra space in the lot this morning. In fact, until he stood on the 18th green for a tap-in birdie putt, Woods was all but certain to be less in evidence over the weekend than a breath of fresh air.

It’s safe to exhale now. Woods did not miss the cut, but he came awfully close, since landing on the mark isn’t exactly much of a cushion.

Afterward, it was easy to tell the sense of relief that Woods felt when he thought about what so often is taken for granted in his singularly special case. He smiled and joked and playfully recounted his round of one-under-par 69 and a four-over-par total of 144 that kept his record spotless in the majors.

Woods hasn’t missed a cut in a major championship since he played and won his first as a pro, the 1997 Masters, a span of 36 consecutive majors.

Against that kind of backdrop, this one was too close for comfort, even on a two-shirt day for Woods in the super-charged heat and suffocating pressure. Usually, Woods’ making the cut has the same kind of news value as white golf balls. But Tiger’s missing the cut and going home for the weekend?

Next you’re going to say they’re changing the number of holes to 17 or growing roses in the rough or making par whatever the heck they feel like.

Woods has now played exactly 195 PGA Tour events and he has missed the cut four times. One of them was in May, however, at the Byron Nelson tournament, a turn of events with so much force that the ground trembled under Woods’ feat.

His streak of 142 tournaments in a row, a record, shuddered to an end. And on Friday at Baltusrol, the unimaginable, the unexpected, the un-cool was happening again?

Woods put himself in a hole almost immediately. He made three consecutive bogeys after starting off with a birdie and suddenly he was seven over par. By then, the cut line was projected at four over, so Woods was looking colder than the guy selling frozen lemonade.

He was still at seven over when the comeback began. He birdied the 11th and then made an 18-foot putt at the 12th to get to five over. When Woods rolled in a 12-foot putt to birdie the 15th, he appeared safe at four over, but that changed at the 605-yard 17th, where Woods tried to reach the green in two.

It didn’t work, and Woods caught a bad break. Downwind and with 269 yards left to the front edge with his second shot, he hit a three-wood, but the ball caught the bank of the bunker and bounced left into the sand.

The ball stopped near the rear edge of the bunker and his only shot was to hit backward onto a narrow slip of rough between bunkers. He chipped on, 15 feet past the hole and two-putted for a bogey, nose-diving back to five over.

There was only one thing for Woods to do. Birdie the 18th or go home.

He made it look simple, which it is, since the 554-yard 18th ranks as the easiest hole on the course. But sometimes the simplest tasks become the hardest, especially with something like missing the cut at stake, yet Woods handled it effortlessly.

He was on the green in two, missed a 25-footer for eagle, and then tapped in his short birdie putt to make the cut on the number.

And so his major streak goes on, an accomplishment that probably should get more recognition than it actually does. If making the cut at every single major is so easy, why don’t more players do it?

Look at the rest of the so-called Big Five. Vijay Singh has missed the cut in eight majors, Ernie Els in four, Phil Mickelson in three, Retief Goosen in 11.

And still Woods gets by, even though it was a wild ride. He had three-putts, he drove it in the rough, three people were injured by a falling tree branch while he was playing a hole, he had bad irons, bad putts and bad breaks, yet he still made the cut.

Realistically, 12 shots behind Mickelson’s lead isn’t exactly a position of authority with 36 holes left, but Woods should have known on Monday morning that things were going to be a little rocky.

When Woods drove into the parking lot, somebody had taken his space. After what happened on Friday, it’s still his for the rest of the weekend.

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On the cutting edge

Tiger Woods has come close to missing the cut in a major championship five times. He has made 36 consecutive cuts in the majors to start his career.

* 2005 PGA Championship: Opened with a five-over 75 at Baltusrol and was tied for 113th, his worst position in a major. Made a two-putt birdie at the par-five 18th to put him at four-over 144 to make the cut.

* 2004 PGA Championship: Opened with a 75, leaving him in 104th place at Whistling Straits. He birdied the 13th, 16th and 17th on Friday to make the cut by two shots. Then shot 69-75 on the weekend and tied for 24th, six shots back.

* 2003 Masters: Was on the cut line at five over when he hit an errant tee shot on his last hole, No. 9. He recovered to a green-side bunker and got up and down to land on the cut line. He shot 66-75 on the weekend and tied for 15th, nine shots back.

* 2001 PGA Championship: Was two below projected cut with four holes to play at Atlanta Athletic Club. Long birdie putts on Nos. 15 and 16 helped him make the cut. Shot 69-70 on the weekend and tied for 29th, 14 shots back.

* 2001 U.S. Open: Opened with a 74 at Southern Hills. The U.S. Open cut is top 60 and everyone within 10 shots of the lead. He shot 71 Friday to make the cut by two shots, then closed with a pair of 69s to tie for 12th, seven back.

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Source: Associated Press