This one was as predictable as wind and rain at the 152nd Open Championship: Tiger Woods missing another cut in a major championship.
In his 15 major appearances since winning the 2019 Masters, one of the game’s greatest has failed to make the cut seven times, including three times this year after finishing last (60th) at the Masters in April. A year ago, the 48-year-old withdrew from the Masters and didn’t play the rest of the year’s majors.
This week was more of the same. Woods opened play at Royal Troon with an ugly 8-over par 79 and followed that with a 77 Friday to finish at 14-over ( the 36-hole cut fell at 6-over ). To his credit, he spoke to reporters about what had to be a painful, if familiar, day’s work.
“Well, it wasn’t very good,” Woods said. “I made a double there at (hole) 2 right out of the hopper when I needed to go the other way. Just was fighting it pretty much all day. I never really hit it close enough to make birdies and consequently made a lot of bogeys.”
Given his lack of play in recent years, with seemingly token appearances at the majors, none of that should be a surprise.
“I’d like to have played more, but I just wanted to make sure that I was able to play the major championships this year,” he said. “I got a lot of time off to get better, to be better physically, which has been the case all year.”
While Woods’ poor play — and his insistence on keeping on trying — surprised no one, the failure to make the cut by others was, in several cases, shocking.
Take Cam Smith, winner of the 2022 Open at St. Andrews in a final-round shootout with Rory McIlroy. An opening 9-over 80 Thursday all but doomed the Australian’s chances, and Friday’s 3-over 74 confirmed it.
“Just a bad day, really,” Smith said Thursday. “I mean, if you had have told me (Wednesday) that I was going to shoot that (80), I wouldn’t have said that was possible. But yeah, just a bit of a crappy start and didn’t really manage to hole any putts when I needed to, to get back in it.”
Perhaps the most unexpected performance was McIlroy’s meltdown. He shot 78 Thursday and fell to 11-over Friday. The four-time major winner, whose last such victory came 10 years ago, was one of this week’s early betting favorites.
Wyndham Clark, the 2023 U.S. Open winner, imploded with an 80 Friday for a 16-over total. Other prominent casualties included current U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau, Max Homa, Norway’s Viktor Hovland, Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg and England’s Tommy Fleetwood.
Tony Finau, one of the PGA Tour’s young stars, seemed safe until a triple-bogey on the seventh hole and a crushing 8 on the par-4 12 sent him plummeting to 10-over. Greenville native and former Clemson All-American Lucas Glover, the 2009 U.S. Open champion, finished 13-over.
Henrik Stenson, winner of the most recent Open at Royal Troon in 2016, when he out-dueled Phil Mickelson, finished at 8-over after Friday’s 73.
“I didn’t have much energy coming into this week; I’ve been extremely flat,” Stenson said. “Given how I’ve been playing … if you feel like you’re at 30 percent, you’re not looking for a big week.”
There were some comeback stories. Perhaps the day’s most inspiring round was by Robert MacIntyre, who was coming off his stirring win at last week’s Genesis Scottish Open. After a 1-over Thursday, the 27-year-old crowd favorite had two triple-bogeys and was 7-over Friday through his first seven holes, but rallied down the stretch to finish 5-over to the cheers of the Scottish fans and avert disaster.
Matthew Fitzpatrick, winner of the 2022 U.S. Open and the 2023 RBC Heritage, shot 7-over Friday but managed to make the cut at 6-over. Also surviving at 6-over were Rickie Fowler (a 2-under Friday) and 2011 Open champion Darren Clarke (even Friday).
Two-time Open champion Ernie Els, who shot 82 Thursday, withdrew citing a back injury. John Daly, the 1995 Open winner, also WD’d.
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