Woods should be heading to contest this week’s Wyndham Championship in North Carolina, but it appears he may pull the plug on the event after his erratic display at Whistling Straits.
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“When he makes two or three in a row, you just give the yardage, answer any questions and get out of the way”.
Woods, who has suffered from wayward driving for most of this season and a shockingly bad short game earlier this year, posted his worst round as a professional, an 85 at the Memorial tournament in June.
Woods continued to insist his confidence is growing but admitted his consistency remains a problem that can only be solved by playing. “That’s the fun part”, said the 14-time major champion. “But when I came in, I thought that it was going to be more people, more media”. That was probably one of the most surprising things about yesterday, how quickly I got back into the mind-set of tournament golf and being aggressive.
“I haven’t been able to put consistently both together for an entire event”, Woods said.
Dustin Johnson, who led after the first round with a 66, has dropped to 10th, after shooting 73 in the second round. Now he not only sounds like everybody else, Woods plays like everybody else, too. As he did on the par-5 fifth with a nifty up-and-down.
Day moved out to the lead on a day when birdies were flying. He added a birdie on the eighth.
In nine PGA Tour events this season, the 14-times major victor has made five cuts and finished in the top 25 twice. I’m sure I’ll be nervous on the first tee. You’re a golfer, so you expect weeks like this. Watching Ricky Fowler keep hitting shots close to the pin down the stretch and in the playoff was exhilarating.
Jaime Diaz, the editor of Golf Digest and a longtime Woods biographer, believes we shouldn’t see anything of him for a few months, as if Diaz or anybody else can be an influence.
If he can’t rally when play resumes, Whistling Straits will remain a frustrating venue for one of the best players on Tour yet to have won a major. And there are two young stars in golf making waves: Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth.
“Season or year?” he said. He will also play in his foundation’s tournament, the Hero World Challenge, December 3-6.
Richard Heathcote/Getty Images Despite early exit at PGA Championship, Tiger Woods says he still has plenty of golf to play this year.
“I just never felt like I had the speed right“, Woods said later in the same interview. It will rate as a surprise if he can match his 75. We’ve seen other golfing greats like Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus go gracefully into the night as the next generation after them took over. “Then I started getting my ball striking in order, but then I lost my putting”, he lamented.
Rose completed his second round where he started – at 8 under. The projected cut was 2 over, so unless Woods holes out from the 18th fairway for an eagle, he’ll be done for the week. He’s wild with his shots and not a very good putter. “It’s a daunting tee shot”, Rose said. Two breakfasts, three lunches, two warmups – it’s that kind of day.
It’s been a lean couple of years for the 45-year-old lefty who last won a major in 2013. Jason is playing very well. Friday, he required an act of weather to make it to the weekend of a major. His first shot was a tough chip he sent 20 feet past the hole at No. 14. Fans think he ought to stay away from competition, relax-if that’s even possible after missing the cut in a third straight major-and reflect.
After the historic rise to greatness and the equally unprecedented plunge to mediocrity, we can’t predict how it’ll go. I’m a streaky player, I know that.
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If there was anyone capable of rebounding from a first-round 89 – which left him last in the 156-player field – it was Dan Venezio, an assistant pro at Myopia Hunt Club. “I don’t really want to blame it on rust, but I didn’t putt as well as I would have liked”. “Finally rolled the ball coming in, and unfortunately it was a too little too late”.
