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Tiger Woods misses cut at US Open as Dustin Johnson shows him how it’s done
15th June 2018,
17th July 2018,
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TIGER WOODS' comeback fizzled out completely as he missed the cut at the US Open in dismal style.
While playing partner Dustin Johnson was charging to four under par on the back of a brilliant 67, Woods added a scrappy 72 to his opening 78 to finish on 10 over.
He immediately headed back to his £15million yacht to lick his wounds and be reminded of former glories – and has already made plans to spend the weekend sailing home to Florida.
The excitement Woods, 42, created with some encouraging performances after he returned from his latest back operation – including a runner-up finish at the Valspar – is already beginning to look like a false dawn.
A few hot rounds with the putter helped to put a gloss on the fact that his game is still a million miles from where it was when he won the last of his 14 Major titles ten years ago.
A disappointing share of 32nd place in the Masters sparked a run of five events with just one top twenty finish, and his putting touch has deserted him just when he needed it most.
The frustration is clearly getting to Woods. For the second day running he could be heard swearing at himself – this time there was a loud yell of “Dammit Tiger, f**k’ after another wild drive on the 14th.
His mood was probably not helped by Johnson handing him a painful reminder of just how far he has to go before he can compete with the game’s elite players on level terms again.
The current world no1 is a hot favourite to repeat his 2016 victory in this event after shooting two sub-par rounds over a course that has proved a minefield for most of the game’s top players.
Johnson rarely shows any emotion, but even he had to smile after draining a 45 footer for birdie at the seventh hole – the notorious par three that caused so much mayhem the last time Shinnecock Hills hosted the US Open in 2004.
Woods also finished strongly with birdies at his final two holes. But the rueful look he gave after retrieving his ball showed the cheers of the crowd meant next to nothing.
All he had done was salvaged a bit of pride. That is not what the 14-time Major champion is back playing the game for.
It had all looked a lot more promising when Woods got off to the ideal start – in contrast to his opening triple bogey on day one.
This time he set out on the tenth and coaxed a glorious approach to two and a half feet for an easy birdie, prompting raucous cries of “Go get ‘em Tiger”.
Sadly, it did not last. He gave that shot back after being forced to hack out of the knee-high fescue on the 14th.
And it was another case of one step forward one step back as his birdie on the long 16th was cancelled out by a bogey at 18.
It also looked the nightmare memories of his first hole farce 24 hours earlier were still haunting him, as Woods made another right mess of the hole from the middle of the fairway.
He carved his 164 yard approach into deep rough, sent his next shot sailing through the green, and walked off with a double bogey six. So one of the easiest holes on the course had cost him five shots.
When he bogeyed the par three second for the second day running to plunge to 11 over par – five shots below the cut line at that stage – there was no way back.
TIGER WOODS' comeback fizzled out completely as he missed the cut at the US Open in dismal style.
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