TULSA, Okla. – It never gets old watching Tiger Woods gut out making a cut.
In just his second start since being involved in a single-car crash that nearly took a limb if not his life, Woods overcame pain that he refuses to put into words and fought like crazy from the wrong side of the cutline to shoot 1-under 69 at Southern Hills in the second round of the 104th PGA Championship and advance to the weekend.
Moments after Woods drilled a 5-iron from 209 yards to 4 feet at 16, former pro turned French TV analyst Thomas Levet said, “This is incredible. It’s like he’s winning a tournament against himself.”
As NBC’s Dan Hicks once said of Woods, “expect anything different.”
The good news: Woods has now made the cut at both the Masters and PGA Championship. The bad news: he looks to be dealing with more pain than he did after two rounds at the Masters, but when asked to describe the level of discomfort during his post-round press conference, he demurred.
Did you feel worse today?
Woods interjected. “Yep,” he said.
Better than yesterday?
“Uh huh,” he added.
On a scale of 1 to 10?
“All that,” Woods said to end the discussion.
Rory McIlroy, who shot two strokes higher than Woods on Friday, called it “unbelievable,” that Woods had made yet another weekend at a major.
“I was joking with Joey (LaCava) yesterday and saying, he could have came back and played like Honda and Valspar, two of the flattest courses on Tour,” McIlroy said. “It might have been a bit easier for him, but he comes to two of the toughest walks that we have.”
Woods shot 74 in the first round and teed off straddling the cutline. He toured the front nine in even par with a birdie and bogey. Woods got the second nine started on the right foot by burying a 10 footer for birdie to improve to 3-over for the championship.
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“I knew the number was going to be 4,” he said of the eventual score of 4-over 144 that was needed to survive the 36-hole cut. “I just had to go get there.”
The task became tougher when he tugged an 8-iron at the 11th hole and made a double bogey. But there’s no quit in Woods as evidenced by a series of up-and-downs to save par.
Watching @TigerWoods grind it out, especially now, is still one of the great things in all of sport.
— Dan Hicks (@DanHicksNBC) May 20, 2022
“I whip into a bunker with an easy little wedge there on 12 and was nice to make a nice par putt there and right the ship,” he said.
After a birdie at the par-5 13th, he made gutsy pars on 14 and 15, the latter of which brought a giant smile to his face.
“That was a tasty little bunker shot there,” Woods said. “That was a good one. I liked that one. I didn’t like putting myself there, but I liked executing the shot. “
It kept the momentum growing and Woods on the right side of the cutline. When he rolled in his short birdie putt at 16 to give him a bit of a cushion, a fan yelped, “Stick around, Big Cat.”
The winner of the 2007 PGA Championship here at Southern Hills is 12 shots back of leader Will Zalatoris after 36 holes, but he hasn’t given up hope of claiming a 16th career major championship. He’ll tee off at 8:33 a.m. local time on Saturday with South African Shaun Norris.
Tiger Woods plays a shot on the first hole as a gallery of fans look on during the second round of the 2022 PGA Championship at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma. (Photo: Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images)
“I’ve won tournaments on the cut number,” Woods said. “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.”
How hot?
“I want to shoot a number like Bubba did today,” Woods said, referring to Bubba Watson’s second-round 63, the low round of the day.
The effort Woods displayed given the circumstances proved once again that he’s the ultimate competitor.
“Looking at him yesterday,” McIlroy said, “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, and yeah, it was just a monumental effort.”