PGA Championship: Tiger Woods misses cut, says he just ‘didn’t quite have it’

Tiger Woods admitted that he wasn’t moving the way he needed to and ‘didn’t quite have it’ as he missed the cut at the PGA Championship

The difference between playing partners Brooks Koepka and Tiger Woods over 36 holes at Bethpage Black was an astonishing 17 shots… but the recent Masters champion still only missed the cut by a single shot.

Yet it was a performance that many hadn’t predicted for Woods, who was teeing up for the first time since claiming his 15th major championship at Augusta National last month. 

There were high hopes he would continue his quest to reach Jack’s major haul of titles, but instead he posted rounds of 72 and 73 to finish at +5 for the tournament – one shot worse than was required to be playing the weekend.

“It’s just the way it goes,” Woods said afterwards. 

“You know, so I’ve enjoyed being the Masters Champion again, and the PGA was a quick turnaround, and unfortunately I just didn’t — I just didn’t play well. I didn’t do all the little things I need to do correctly to post good scores and put myself in position to shoot good scores.”

So what went wrong?

From the beginning of the week, it was clear something wasn’t quite right in the Woods camp: Tiger played just nine holes on Monday, spoke about the reality of living with a fused back on Tueday and missed playing any practice holes at all on either Tuesday and Wednesday. 

But it wasn’t just pre round preparation that was difficult for Woods this week, but on the course, too. 

After opening his PGA Championship with a double bogey on the par-four 10th on Thurdsay, Woods had battled to a two-over 72, and had admitted he hadn’t been well earlier in the week.

He was left needing a good round on day two, but instead faltered further as he struggled with various aspects of his game. 

One of the biggest problems for Woods was his driving, hitting just three out of 14 fairways during the second round, while also missing more than his usual share of putts to guarantee his early exit from the competition. To give context to this point, Woods ranked T154 in accuracy and 129th in the field Strokes Gained Off The Tee. 

“You know, just don’t feel well and just not able to do it,” Woods said when asked about being prepared. “But resting would be better, so I would have energy to play. You know, unfortunately I just didn’t — made too many mistakes and just didn’t do the little things I need to do. You know, I had a couple three-putts. I didn’t hit wedges close. I didn’t hit any fairways today. Did a lot of little things wrong.

“There’s no reason why I can’t get up to speed again and crank it back up. I’ve got to start feeling a little bit better first before that happens. We’ll do that first and then start cranking it back up again.

“I just wasn’t moving the way I needed to. That’s the way it goes. There’s going to be days and weeks where it’s just not going to work, and today was one of those days.”

Other surprising players to miss the cut were Jon Rahm, Patrick Reed, Bryson DeChambeau, Sergio Garcia and Ian Poulter.