Tiger Woods’ major season has come to a merciful end with another ugly performance and another missed cut. Going out in the morning wave at the British Open, Woods shot a 6-over on the day at Royal Troon to finish at 14-over, well outside any conceivable cut line. Woods carded five bogeys and a double against a lone birdie.
With an outside chance at making the cut after an 8-over 79 on Thursday, Woods promptly double-bogeyed the second hole, beginning a long slide down the leaderboard. The one bright spot was a birdie at the sixth, but other than that, Friday was a grim afternoon for Woods and his fans.
Tiger scores his first birdie of the day at the long 6th hole. pic.twitter.com/NMSSNPCMdv
The Open (@TheOpen) July 19, 2024
The bar for Woods is now so low that social media accounts are praising his escapes from the rough:
Tiger showing off his MUSCLES with this iron shot out of the difficult rough. : @USANetwork | #TheOpen pic.twitter.com/9kavaGBTNr
Golf Channel (@GolfChannel) July 19, 2024
Still, there were some good moments, like the applause Woods received as he walked up the 18th green:
Tiger soaks in appreciation from the crowd.An all-time great. pic.twitter.com/FelmbRRahq
The Open (@TheOpen) July 19, 2024
This week is the latest in a growing line of Woods’ major misfires. He stumbled to a 60th-place finish at the Masters, and missed the cut at the three following majors. He hasn’t finished out the weekend at a major outside of Augusta since 2020. Woods has indicated that majors are his primary, if not sole, focus from here on out, so it’s entirely possible we’ve seen the last of Tiger Woods for 2024. He may or may not retire soon, but he’ll need to improve his game if he wants to play the weekends at future tournaments.
“Hopefully next year,” Woods said Thursday, “will be a little bit better than this year.”