UNIVERSITY PLACE, Washington - Tiger Woods' seven-year title drought at the majors continued with no relief in sight as he crashed out of the US Open on Friday after another miserable round at Chambers Bay.
After opening with a 10-over 80 on Thursday, the former world number one's fate had appeared sealed and the 39-year-old made it official with an equally uninspiring second-round 76 to set another shocking career low.
Woods' midway score of 16-over 156 was his highest 36-hole total on the PGA Tour as a professional, and he missed the cutline at five-over by a once unthinkable 11 shots.
It marks the sixth time the 39-year-old American has missed the cut at a major and the second at a U.S. Open, after he also failed to make the weekend in 2006 at Winged Foot.
“I wanted to shoot five or six today but I wanted to be on the other side of it,” said Woods. “I hit a little bit better today but again, I made nothing today.
“I didn't make any putts the first two days; I hit it better today, hitting some spots where I could hit some putts. I made nothing.”
The winner of 14 majors, Woods' name appears on golf's greatest trophies but on Friday it could be found near the bottom of the U.S. Open leaderboard, tied for 150th with only four men below him.
He began his day with a bogey on his opening hole and finished with a flop as he signed off with three consecutive bogeys.
With just one top-25 finish in five starts on the 2014-15 PGA Tour, a tie for 17th at the Masters, little was expected from Woods at Chambers Bay as he continues to recover from back surgery and hard work on his latest swing change.
The challenging links-style layout revealed there is still much more work to be done as Woods managed just three birdies through two rounds offset by 16 bogeys and a triple-bogey.
“On a golf course like this, you get exposed and you have to be precise and dialed in,” said Woods. “Obviously I didn't have that. Obviously I need to get a little better for the British Open and I'll keep working at it.”
It has now been seven years since Woods celebrated his last major, having won the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines in spectacular fashion by beating Rocco Mediate after 19 extra holes.
Despite his woeful form at Chambers Bay, Woods' tone was more of defiance and determination than quit as he looked ahead to his next major opportunity, at the British Open in July.
“Just continue practising, continue working on it. And hopefully it will be a little bit better,” sighed Woods. – Reuters