Tiger Woods misses the cut at the PGA Championships, third time he misses cut at a Major

Source: AP
By Jim Slater from Afp
Tiger Woods missed the cut at the 93rd PGA Championship on Friday, only the third time in his career the 14-time major winner has failed to reach the last two rounds at a major tournament.

Woods fired a three-over par 73 in his second round at Atlanta Athletic Club after staggering to a 77 in Thursday's opening round, his worst first round at any major and his worst round at any major outside the British Open.

"It's frustration, disappointment that I'm not contending in the tournament. So, next time,'' Woods said when asked about his feelings.

Meanwhile, John Senden is just one shot off the lead and tied third.

The 40-year-old is in a great position to challenge for his first major after he shot his second consecutive two-under 68 to be four-under 136 for the tournament.

Senden trails American's Keegan Bradley and Jason Dufner after the pair shot six-under and five-under rounds respectively to move to five-under 135.

D.A. Points, Jim Furyk and Scott Verplank join Senden at four-under-par.

Adam Scott was the next best Australian after a one-under 69 moved him to two-under 138 and a tie for 11th. Scott was tied for the lead briefly at one point when he reached five-under for the tournament on the back nine but a bogey on the 14th hole before a double bogey on the last blotted his card.

Senden carded four birdies, grabbing shots on both par fives and the par four 14th and eighth holes. But he bogeyed the difficult par three 15th and then three-putted his final hole, the ninth, to finish one back.

"I played very good today. I did everything I needed to do. But it was just disappointing to finish that way," Scott said.

"But it is a hard hole. You can't escape that. I hit a loose shot off the tee and got myself in trouble.

"Overall, though, I'm really happy with two 69s, under par, and not far from the lead.

"It's a good spot to be heading into the weekend."

Can Tiger Woods recover from here and return to winning ways? What did you make of the second day's play - could we have an Aussie winner?

Former World No. 1 Woods, who has sunk to 30th in the rankings, missed his only prior major cuts at the 2009 British Open and 2006 US Open before his 10-over par 150 for 36 holes in this year's last major tournament.

Woods was playing in only his second event since returning from a layoff of nearly four months due to left leg injuries suffered in a fourth-place finish at the Masters, a break that included missing the US and British Opens.

"I thought I could come in here and play the last couple of weeks and get it done somehow, but I need some work," Woods said.

Woods has not won any event since the start of his infamous sex scandal in November of 2009 and he has not won a major title since the 2008 US Open, the longest win droughts of his career in both cases.

"It's a step back in the sense that I didn't make the cut and I'm not contending in the tournament, but it's a giant leap forward in the fact that I played two straight weeks healthy,'' Woods said.

"That's great for our practice sessions coming up. We are going to be able to work and get after it, something unfortunately, I haven't been able to do."

The 35-year-old American has said he still believes he can break the career record of 18 major titles won by Jack Nicklaus, but he will turn 36 in December before the next chance to trim his four-major deficit at next year's Masters.

"It has been frustrating that I have not been able to practice and work and obviously compete,'' Woods said.

"I've missed two major championships and missed the cut in the other one. So I just need to go out and do my work."

Woods said he would not play next week so he is assured of failing to qualify for the US PGA Tour playoff series.

He said he might play another US event before his charity event in December but likely will only work with swing coach Sean Foley until a trip to Asia and Australia in November.

"Now I'll have nothing to do but work on my game,'' Woods said. "That's going to be good. Sean and I haven't had the opportunity to really sit down and do a lot of work, so this will be our time.''

Woods suffered five double bogeys over two days and struggled to avoid water hazards and bunkers the entire time.

"I was in nearly 20 bunkers in two days and had four or five water balls, so that's not going to add up to a very good score,'' Woods said.

"Today I hit the ball a lot better. I putted well the last two days and really felt great.

"But I just never got to the green soon enough.''

Woods took boeys at the par-5 fifth and par-3 seventh but finished the front nine with back-to-back birdies. After double bogeys at the 11th and 12th, Woods birdied the 13th and par-3 15th only to find the water out of a bunker and bogey 18

"I showed signs that I can hit the ball exactly how I know I can,'' Woods said.

"Unfortunately I just didn't do it enough times."

Woods said among his problems was that he was unaccustomed to striking the ball at full power and getting the results he would normally expect.

"The ball is now coming off cleaner, faster, and I've got to get used to that,'' he said.

"A lot of my shots I missed were over the greens. Not quite used to hitting the ball that far yet."