Woods, who was five over par after the tournament's first two days, missed the cut on Friday for the first time in three years. The last time Tiger failed to make it through all four rounds of a tournament came at the 2006 U.S. Open — his only other instance of missing the cut at a major — when he was playing for the first time since the death of his father.
"Well, obviously it's disappointing, there's no doubt," Woods told ESPN.com. "I was playing
well coming in, and today unfortunately I just didn't play certain
holes well. I was playing the first seven holes dead into the wind. I
was playing those holes well, I was 1-under par and just right there.
And then unfortunately three holes right in a row and I was 4-over par."
Woods shot a 71 in the first round and followed it up with an even worse score on Day 2, sending him packing early from the Open Championship. Tigers' two-day total of 145 missed the cut by just one stroke.
This is only the fifth time in Woods professional career that he has missed a cut. That does not include his withdrawal from the 1998 AT&T Pebble Peach National Pro-Am, which had to be postponed and rescheduled six months later due to inclement weather. Tiger owns the PGA Tour record of consecutive cuts made, 142, which he set between 1998 and 2005.
"That is surprising," Tom Watson told ESPN.com. "It seems like [Tiger's] been playing awfully well this year.
"Links
golf … I've played it when I'm not playing very well, and it's a
struggle. You add a little wind to it like we had today and it's more
of a struggle. How do you get the ball in play? And when you're not
very confident about where you're hitting it and you start hitting it
sideways a few times, then it gets to you — I don't care how good you are, it gets to you."
With Tiger now out of the picture, it's anyone's guess as to who will seize the opportunity the take home the British Open title. After his surprising 5-under 65 on Day 1, Watson has held on to maintain a share of the lead with little-known Steve Marino.
Meanwhile, Mark Calcavecchia is one stroke behind at 4-under, with Vijay Singh, Retief Goosen and first-round leader Miguel Jimenez standing at minus-3.
Other names to keep an eye on over the weekend include Sergio Garcia, Boo Weekley and Jim Furyk — all of whom ended Friday at 1-under.
