Tiger Woods’s Hopes for the Weekend at the PGA Championship End Early

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Tiger Woods saw his chances of playing the weekend at the PGA Championship end early in the second round Friday, two triple bogeys in his first four holes dooming him to a missed cut.

But he played the last 14 holes with nothing on the line in 1 under par, a small measure of redemption for a player looking to find something to build on without much success of late.

“Just keep fighting,” said Woods, whose 77 at Valhalla Golf Club meant missing the cut by eight shots. “Keep the pedal on, keep fighting, keep grinding, keep working hard at posting the best score that I can possibly post today. That’s all I can do. It’s going to be a lot, but I’m going to fight until the end.”

That has been a career mantra for Woods, 48, who made just his third start of the year, with little to show for it.

He withdrew from the Genesis Invitational during the second round due to illness, finished 60th and last among those who made the cut at the Masters and now a missed cut at the PGA, where he famously won the 2000 tournament for a third straight major.

The missed cut was just the 24th worldwide as a pro for Woods and his 13th in a major championship, a majority in the last 10 years when injuries have derailed him repeatedly.

Woods admitted he was not sharp at Valhalla, where he was near the bottom of the field in strokes-gained around the greens. He struggled around the greens at both the 2nd and 4th holes on his way to those triple bogeys.

“I need to clean up my rounds,” he said. “But also—physically, yes, I am better than I was a month ago. I still have more ways to go, lots of improvement to go physically, and hopefully my team and I can get that done pre-Pinehurst and going into it.”

Woods was referring to next month’s U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2, where the USGA has given the 15-time major champion a special exemption. He has won three U.S. Opens and finished third and second in his two Pinehurst appearances.

Asked if he sees the opportunity for improvement, Woods said: “It will. In time. I just got to—I need to play more. Unfortunately, I just haven’t played a whole lot of tournaments, and not a whole lot of tournaments on my schedule either. Hopefully everything will somehow come together in my practice sessions at home and be ready for Pinehurst.”