Let the debate reopen: Is Tiger Woods back or is he back to the golfer that is imminently beatable? In the case of the Greenbrier Classic this week, Woods beat himself, missing the cut for only the ninth time in his career.
It would not be such a surprise — golfers miss cuts; just ask Phil Mickelson — if Woods had not looked so stellar in winning at Congressional just five days earlier, his 74th PGA Tour victory. It also was surprising because the Old White TPC course was taken advantage of by many lesser players.
“I didn’t quite have it,” said Woods, whose birdie on the last hole gave him a 69 that was still one stroke too many. He finished at even par; the cut line was minus-1. “I drove it really good and I just did not have the right feel for the distances. The ball was just going forever. I know we’re at altitude but I just couldn’t get the ball pin high no matter what I did, and subsequently I made some bogeys.”
Woods needed to shoot 2-under-par 68 to make the cut, but after a 2-hour, 25-minute weather delay, Woods missed a makeable birdie putt then made consecutive bogeys on the back nine to make his task formidable.
He rebounded with birdies at the 12th and 14th holes, then missed an 8-footer for birdie at the 15th and could not convert at the par-5 17th. In the end, Woods simply didn’t give himself enough chances, despite missing just three fairways on Friday. As has been an issue all year, he was mediocre with his short irons, leaving himself long birdie putts on short approach shots.
“I had my distance control dialed in last week and this week I was hitting the ball so far,” he said. “I know it’s hot, I know we’re at altitude. My sand wedge is going 142 (yards), 145. Wedge is 160. These are numbers that I don’t normally hit. … I was really, really struggling to get the ball at the right number.”
It is his second missed cut of the year, and just the second time in his career (the other 2005) that he’s missed two cuts in the same season. Woods also has a tour-leading three victories this season.
Needing to get in the 60s on Friday, Woods played the front nine in even par despite hitting every fairway. He left himself a 12-footer for birdie when the horn blew to halt play, came back out and missed it, then made two sloppy bogeys at the 10th and 11th holes.
Mickelson fared no better. For the first time in his 20-year Hall of Fame career, Mickelson has gone seven straight rounds without shooting par or better on the PGA Tour. It was the first time he and Woods missed the cut in the same tournament.
“I really have been (off),” Mickelson said. “I don’t know what to say about that. It hasn’t been great. The parts don’t feel that far off, but I haven’t been putting them together. It doesn’t feel bad off the tee, it doesn’t feel bad with the iron play, it doesn’t feel bad chipping or putting.
“But I’m making some loose drives here or there, some loose iron shots here or there, missing some short putts here or there, and just haven’t been putting it all together.”
