Fighting Through Pain to Make a Cut in Another Major, Tiger Woods Can Smile

Tiger Woods birdied two holes coming in to shoot 69 and make the weekend at the PGA Championship, a feat that cannot be minimized given his constant leg pain.

Bob Harig | May 20, 2022

Tiger Woods tees off in the second round at the 2022 PGA Championship. — Tiger Woods had a solid driving day on Friday, which helped in beating the course average by more than three shots. :: Orlando Ramirez/USA Today

TULSA, Okla. – By the time he made it out of the Southern Hills clubhouse and ambled down to his courtesy car in the parking lot early Friday evening, the sun that had been blazing for most of the day had slipped behind the clouds, only a few players left on the course.

Tiger Woods, still sweating profusely, also walked with a limp that was more pronounced that at any time during the second round of the PGA Championship. And there were instances during his trek across the course when it looked bad.

This, for now, is normal procedure for Woods. At times, it is going to appear worse than others, and given that he was walking downhill on a paved lot undoubtedly made it more pronounced. So did the fact that he’d spent five-plus hours on his feet, walking up and down some hilly terrain, doing his best to hold it together.

That Woods somehow made the cut for the second time since his return from a serious car crash in February 2021 cannot be overstated. His 1-under-par 69 followed an opening-round 74 to put him at 143, 3 over par, and in a tie for 53rd place.

He did it by birdieing two of his last six holes and overcoming what appeared to be a tournament-ending double bogey on the 11th hole.

Woods had a big smile on his face as he greeted his girlfriend, Erica, and his confidant, Rob McNamara – Tiger got into the passenger side of the SUV – clearly pleased for the moment at the accomplishment as he briefly spoke about it.

But Woods gave himself no out for the shot that led to the 5 on the par-3 11th, one that could have easily ended his tournament early. “Terrible shot,’’ he said. “No way I should have been there. Played the hole so nicely (Thursday). Just horrible.’’

Woods’ ball actually came to rest in tall grass marked as a penalty area. The hole was playing 178 yards but Woods hit it 193 yards, a pulled shot that went long. That happened to him on the 18th hole (his ninth) on Thursday, too.

For now, it appears, that is Woods’ miss, and it is related to his right leg; when he is unable to push off properly, his swing is altered, which leads to more of an arms swing and a tendency to try and make up for the loss of power that sends the ball long and left.

When it happened on Thursday, Woods was visibly irritated, as it led to the first of three straight bogeys.

Friday’s mis-hit was no less important, as it put him outside of the cut line with just seven holes to go. At the 12th hole, he again missed long and left into a bunker, and left himself a 14-foot putt that he made for par.

But at the par-5 13th, he hit a wedge from 112 yards to 8 feet for a birdie to get back to 4 over par, then added another birdie at the 521-yard, par-4 16th, knocking a 5-iron to 4 feet from 209 yards.

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It was impressive stuff and meant Woods would be here for the weekend.

“Just unbelievable making the cut at Augusta and making the cut here,’’ said Rory McIlroy, who played with Woods during the first two rounds and is tied for fifth. “I was joking with (caddie) Joey (LaCava) yesterday and saying, he could have came back and played like Honda and Valspar, two of the flattest courses on Tour. It might have been a bit easier for him, but he comes to two of the toughest walks that we have.

“Just incredibly resilient and mentally tough. To get a front-row seat — he's feeling it, and he's feeling it on every swing, but to see what he did on that back nine — he missed a few iron shots but he got it up-and-down when he needed to. Made an incredible birdie on 16 to sort of get him inside the cut number a little bit more.

“Look, he's the ultimate pro. Looking at him yesterday, I wouldn't have — if that would have been me, I would have been considering pulling out and just going home, but Tiger is different and he's proved he's different. It was a monumental effort.’’

At this point, is it worth it for Woods to endure what he must to grind his way to making cuts? While the details are scarce, Woods has said that ice baths are part of his repertoire, to reduce swelling. He has physical trainers who then help him get ready in some form or fashion. Certain swings hurt more than others. On Thursday, Woods said he has difficulty pushing off on his right leg, and that there is pain when he twists and when he walks.

And yet here he is again, having made the cut for the second straight major championship, the gain apparently worth the pain.

“Just the fact that I'm able to play golf again and play in our biggest championships,’’ Woods said afterward. “As I alluded to earlier, you guys all know, I'm not going to be playing a lot of tournaments going forward. They're going to be the biggest tournaments. I want to be able to play the major championships. I've always loved playing them.

“Coming back here to a place that I've had success on (he won the 2007 PGA Championship for his 13th major title), to play against the best players in the world, that's what we all want to be able to do. Fortunately enough, I'm able to somehow do it. I've had a great PT staff that have put Humpty-Dumpty back together, and we'll go out there tomorrow, and hopefully tomorrow I can do something like what Bubba did today.’’

Woods was referring to Bubba Watson, who shot 63 to get into contention. That is Woods’ mindset, even if it might appear unrealistic. It’s why when asked about grinding to make a cut instead of what he had become so used to in his career – grinding to be atop the leaderboard – Woods said there was not much in the way of an adjustment to be made.

“Well, you can't win the tournament if you miss the cut,’’ Woods said. “I've won tournaments – not major championships, but I've won tournaments on the cut number. There's a reason why you fight hard and you're able to give yourself a chance on the weekend. You just never know when you might get hot.

“This weekend I'm going to have to go low. It's going to be different. The wind is going to be coming out of the north. It's going to be cooler.’’

Unlike at the Masters, where Woods seemed more willing to relish the accomplishment of making the cut, he was talking more like that golfer he’s always been, not allowing for concessions or more victories.

He talked about the weather and shooting a good score to post and the quick turnaround. “I’ve got to do some things physically to get myself there tomorrow,’’ he said.

It won’t matter to him, but Woods is ahead of Collin Morikawa, Hideki Matsuyama, Webb Simpson and Billy Horschel on the scorecard. The likes of Kevin Kisner, Dustin Johnson, Scottie Scheffler, Adam Scott and Sergio Garcia missed the cut.

Woods hit 11 of 14 fairways and 10 of 18 greens, both improvements from Thursday. He also needed just 25 putts. None of his strokes-gained statistics are particularly impressive – was 102nd in the field in strokes gained around the green, for example.

But he somehow managed to shoot under par on a day that the scoring average was 72.603, beating it by more than three strokes.

Woods is never going to let on that he is happy about being in 53rd place, or good with being 12 shots behind the leader, in this case Will Zalatoris.

Deep down, however, there has to be a sense of pride in the accomplishment, and the big smile that he had on his face as he closed the car door and left the property was perhaps one such clue.

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