Tiger Woods makes Players cut with final putt
For the last four years, the 36-hole cut at The Players Championship had been even-par 144.
Stalking a 9 foot birdie putt on the par-5 ninth, his last hole of the day on Friday, Tiger Woods knew he needed it to drop to play two rounds in even par, assure himself a spot in the weekend field and avoid missing the cut at TPC Sawgrass for the first time in his career.
Sure enough, with a flash of a Woods long dead, he holed the putt and gave a fist pump with a different kind of emotion behind it: relief.
Woods' 1-under 71 on Friday evened out a 73 on Thursday, but the 14-time major champion felt he should be much closer to the lead.
“I haven’t gotten anything out of my rounds,” said Woods, who ended up trailing joint leaders Kevin Na and Jerry Kelly by eight heading into the weekend. “I should be a few under par each day, and I’m just not capitalizing on my opportunities, and I need to start doing that.”
Like in Round 1, Woods' scorecard had plenty of geometry on it -- six circles for birdies, five squares for bogeys. Woods has 11 birdies through two rounds, second best in the field behind Na. The problem, then, is avoiding momentum-crushing mistakes, forcing Woods to press.
If Woods can figure out how to tidy up the card, then, he believes, he has a chance to catch the leaders.
“Anyone who makes the cut certainly has a chance on this golf course,” he said. “I feel like I’m playing well enough to get myself up there. I just need one good round and narrow up that gap between myself and the lead, and I feel like I can do that.”
Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.
