A rare weekend off for Tiger

In what was his 267th event as a professional, this will mark just the eighth
missed cut for Woods. It will also be the first time he has missed the weekend
two times at the same event, after he also missed the cut in 2010.

“The entire week I didn’t play the par fives well. Today I made four pars. You
just can’t do that, especially when all of them are reachable with irons,”
said Woods. “I didn’t take care of the par fives, missed a couple other little
short ones for birdie, and consequently got no momentum during the round.”

Woods opened with a one-under 71 on Thursday at Quail Hollow. He started
Friday’s round with a three-putt par on the par-five 10th.

The 2007 champion bounced back with a short birdie putt on the 11th to move to
minus-two. A poor tee shot at the 12th led to a bogey.

Woods hit his tee ball to 40 feet at the 13th, but three-putted for a second
straight bogey. He righted the ship with an 18-foot birdie putt on No. 17.

However, Woods came up short with his approach at the 18th. He chipped to 13
feet, but missed the par-saving putt. That bogey sent Woods to the front nine
at even-par.

Woods was unable to get anything going on the front side. He ran off nine
straight pars to close out his round.

It was not without drama though.

Woods pulled his second shot way left on the par-five fifth. As the crowd
surrounded the ball, it disappeared. It was ruled the someone picked up the
ball, so Woods was given a free drop. He chipped to 27 feet, but two-putted
for par.

“They saw the ball bounce and go into that area there, and then they saw
people go around where the ball went. You know, just looking at that area,
it’s basically bare ground, trampled down pine needles,” explained PGA Tour
rules official Mark Russell. “If it had been deep mulch or pine needles, it
would have been a different situation. Based on the evidence there, it looked
like to me somebody picked up the ball.”

Woods chipped his second within three feet at the short par-four eighth, but
failed to make his short birdie putt. He two-putted for par from 43 feet out
on the ninth to end at even-par.

The cut line fell at one-under-par 143. Woods was one of three former winners
to miss the weekend. Lucas Glover and Vijay Singh also missed the cut, while
2008 winner Anthony Kim withdrew due to multiple injuries.

This was Woods’s first start since he tied for 40th at the Masters. That came
after his first win in over two years, when he won the Arnold Palmer
Invitational by five strokes.