Tiger Woods hints at playing more frequently after missing PGA Championship cut

Tiger Woods has vowed to improve his performance at next month’s US Open after a disappointing second round of 77 at the US PGA, resulting in him missing the cut by eight shots. The 15-time Major champion, who made two triple bogeys, has now failed to break par in 11 consecutive rounds in the Majors. Playing only his third event of the season, the world No. 807 finished 19 shots behind leader Xander Schauffele. He was also outplayed by 12 of the PGA professionals in the field.

Woods, who aims to compete at the US Open on June 13, expressed optimism: “My game will get better. In time. I need to play more. Unfortunately, I just haven’t played a whole lot of tournaments, and not a whole lot of tournaments on my schedule either. Hopefully everything will somehow come together in my practice sessions at home and be ready for Pinehurst. I need to clean up my rounds. Physically, yes, I am better than I was a month ago. I still have more ways to go, lots of improvement to go physically, and hopefully my team and I can get that done pre-Pinehurst and going into it.”

Woods was one-under after 17 holes in his first round before three-putting his final two greens for a 72. His performance deteriorated further amid persistent heavy rain in Louisville. After playing through 1,441 holes at the US PGA without a triple bogey, he ended that streak by going from greenside bunker to bunker on the second hole and three-putting for a seven. Two holes later, he repeated the feat, dropping seven shots in three painful holes. He managed birdies on holes seven and eight, nearly acing the latter with a 190-yard drive, but later dropped shots on holes 11 and 12.

After an 80-minute delay caused by a fatal morning traffic accident, Woods concluded his tournament with a birdie at the last, playing his final 14 holes one-under par to finish seven-over par. Reflecting on his performance, he said, “I got off to a bad start and the rough grabbed me at 2. No sand in the bunker as well. Just made a mistake there. I compounded the problem there at 4. Just kept making mistakes and things you can’t do, not just in tournaments but in Majors especially. And I just kept making them. I hung around for most of the day but unfortunately the damage was done early.”

In the 2000 US PGA, Woods shot rounds of 66, 67, 70, and 67 to finish 18-under par before defeating Bob May in a thrilling playoff, completing the third leg of his Tiger Slam. Now at 48, he is in discussions about becoming the next Ryder Cup captain and is actively involved in the PGA Tour Policy Board’s negotiations for a peace deal with the Saudis.

“If you ask any of the player directors, we just don’t sleep much,” he said. “There’s a lot of late nights and Zoom calls at odd hours of the night, all throughout the night, and lots of emails to read. These are all things that I signed up for as a player director and ways that I can help, and hopefully I can make that impact and we’ve done that so far, and hopefully we can make more of an impact.”

When asked about Scottie Scheffler’s arrest earlier in the day, Woods commented, “Unfortunate. That’s all I can say. It was an unfortunate incident and I don’t know what has played out since then, but hopefully everything works out.”

John Daly, the 1991 US PGA champion, withdrew on Friday due to a thumb injury after shooting a first-round 82. Daly, 57, last made the cut in the PGA Championship in 2012 at Kiawah Island.