Tiger Woods likely to miss cut at U.S. Open

SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. -- There was a bit of an edge to his answers, the sound of annoyance. Tiger Woods has generally taken the big-picture view in assessing his situation this year, even when the results were poor.

But likely missing the cut at the U.S. Open and struggling on the greens clearly had him agitated on Friday, regardless of the perspective that has accompanied his comeback in 2018.

"I'm not very happy the way I played and the way I putted,'' he said. "I'm 10 over par. So I don't know that you can be too happy and too excited about 10 over par.''

Woods birdied his last two holes, the eighth and ninth at Shinnecock Hills, to give himself the slimmest of chances to make the weekend. At the time, he was tied for 101st, with only the top 60 and ties in the 156-player field making the 36-hole cut. He was 14 strokes behind leader Dustin Johnson, who played with Woods and shot 67.

Shinnecock's first and second holes again did Woods in, as he played them in 3 over par Friday after playing them 4 over on Thursday. Woods had made the turn at even for the round and 8 over for the tournament when that two-hole stretch effectively made his fight to make the weekend a long shot.

The first hole was particularly gruesome, a relatively benign 400-yard par-4 that Woods played in 5 over par. He made triple-bogey there on Thursday, and then after playing the back side in even par Friday, got to the first, hit the fairway, then hit a wayward approach into tall rough. A pitch over the green led to a double-bogey.

A missed cut would be the second of the year for Woods in 10 events and his eighth overall as a pro in major championships. It would be his third at the U.S. Open, after missed cuts in 2006 and 2015. For his career, Woods came into the U.S. Open having missed just 18 cuts worldwide, 17 on the PGA Tour as a pro.  Woods is trying to avoid missing the cut for the fifth time in his last eight majors.

Woods, 42, was playing his first U.S. Open since missing the cut in 2015, where he opened the tournament with an 80. Over 36 holes, Woods hit 20 of 28 fairways but just 16 of 36 greens and needed 58 putts.

He had five birdies and six bogeys, but three double-bogeys and a triple-bogey.

The last time he had four or more double-bogeys in a U.S. Open was 2008 -- when he last won a major championship.

"Unfortunately it's just what I've done the last few events,'' Woods said. "I just haven't putted well. If I would have putted like I did at the beginning of the year with this ball-striking, that would be ideal. Unfortunately I just haven't done that.

"I'd like to roll it better than I've been. I'm hitting it just fine. I just have not made any putts, and I haven't made those key ones to keep the momentum going, or if I have any positive momentum, I miss a putt and derail it. I just haven't made those key putts in the last few events.''

This is the 40th major championship since the last of Woods' 14 major titles at the 2008 U.S. Open, and he has played in just 26 of them because of injury. He has had nine top-10s and now seven missed cuts. Woods last contended at a major during the 2013 Open at Muirfield, where he tied for sixth.

Next up for Woods will be his own event, the Quicken Loans National at TPC Potomac outside of Washington, D.C., in two weeks and "then head over to the British,'' he said, referring to The Open at Carnoustie, Scotland.