Tiger Woods’ wasted day at the U.S. Open
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — Tiger Woods scrambled his way around Pebble Beach during Thursday’s first round of the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. Yet, when it was all over, when he signed his scorecard, the number next to his name said 70. On Friday, when his iron game seemed, well, ironed out, and he appeared back in control of his golf ball again, he walked off the final green and signed a scorecard that was two shots worse than the day before.
Woods is not out of it; he exited the course after his second-round 72 seven behind leader Justin Rose and in a tie for 36th. But this a day in which the phrase “wasted chance” or “missed opportunity” came up over and over.
We go through every hole to see how this all added up to two-day total of even par.
Note: Woods started his day on the back nine.
Score: Par
Total for the day: Even
Score for the championship: 1 under
OK, so the opposite happened on Tiger’s first hole of the second round. He flared irons on Thursday and was lights out on the green. On Friday, starting at No. 10, he hits a perfect iron approach and then misses a shortish birdie putt. That’s a wasted chance that’ll bother him.
Score: Birdie
Total for the day: 1 under
Score for the championship: 2 under
After a missed chance at No. 10, Tiger charges one in from 10 feet for birdie on the 11th. More interesting is how it happened: He spun his approach from the intermediate rough. Why does that matter? It means Pebble Beach is soft again and scores could get low.
Score: Par
Total for the day: 1 under
Score for the championship: 2 under
Tiger plays a smart 12th hole. He doesn’t try to mess with the pin, tucked behind the bunker on the par 3. Hits it safely below the hole, two putts, moves on about his business.
Score: Par
Total for the day: 1 under
Score for the championship: 2 under
Tiger makes an aggressive run at birdie at No. 13, but it slides by on the low side from 25 feet. Meanwhile, Jordan Spieth is putting on an early show right alongside Woods and leader Justin Rose. Spieth rolled in another birdie, his third in his first four holes.
Score: Par
Total for the day: 1 under
Score for the championship: 2 under
About 10 seconds after Jordan Spieth makes a mental mistake with a wedge in his hand at No. 14, Tiger does the exact same thing at the par 5. They both spin short shots back off the green. Tiger scrambles to make par, but Spieth makes a maddening, momentum-killing bogey.
Score: Par
Total for the day: 1 under
Score for the championship: 2 under
Tiger with another par at 15 after a so-so approach with a short iron. He’s still 1 under for the day. A back-side of (at least) 2 under has to be the goal. The front nine is where you can make up some serious ground.
Score: Par
Total for the day: 1 under
Score for the championship: 2 under
Tiger with a simple up-and-down at No. 16 after missing the green. That’s six pars and a birdie so far in the second round. Now he just has to survive No. 17 before giving himself a birdie chance at the 18th.
Score: Par
Total for the day: 1 under
Score for the championship: 2 under
Tiger burns the edge for birdie at No. 17. He taps in for par. That would have been a huge birdie, a shot gained on the field. It’s still early in the second round, but there has been just one birdie so far at the par 3 today.
Score: Par
Total for the day: 1 under
Score for the championship: 2 under
Tiger takes an oddly conservative approach to the 18th and walks away with par. Posts 1-under 35 on the back nine — eight pars and one birdie. It’s a solid side, but his playing partner and leader Justin Rose is six ahead. Next seven holes are his (and Rose’s and Jordan Spieth’s) chance to attack.
Score: Par
Total for the day: 1 under
Score for the championship: 2 under
A textbook way to play No. 1 for Tiger. Perfect position off the tee, approach below the hole from 20 feet. But the birdie putt doesn’t drop. He did make up a shot on leader Justin Rose, who finally made a bogey after a 360-degree spinout on his par putt.
Score: Par
Total for the day: 1 under
Score for the championship: 2 under
Tiger drills another birdie putt through the break at No. 2, this time missing from 14 feet. Everything that went in Thursday’s first round is sliding past an edge in Friday’s second round.
Score: Par
Total for the day: 1 under
Score for the championship: 2 under
Only the second time all day Tiger can’t find a fairway. As he has all day — actually, as he has the first two days — he managed the mistake and walked away with another par. That’s 11 of them in 12 holes, to go with a lone birdie.
Score: Par
Total for the day: 1 under
Score for the championship: 2 under
Tiger wasted another chance. Perfect position off the fourth tee. Excellent control of his wedge from 110 yards, spinning it in to 7 feet. But another missed putt — complete with a few four-letter words caught by the FOX broadcast — leads to par. With Justin Rose making bogey, he could have made up two shots.
Score: Par
Total for the day: 1 under
Score for the championship: 2 uder
No drama for Tiger on No. 5 this time. After Thursday’s off-the-cart-path adventure, he finds the fat part of the green at the par 3 and makes yet another par. He’s got two birdie holes coming up now, at No. 6 and 7.
Score: Par
Total for the day: 1 under
Score for the championship: 2 under
See if this sounds familiar: Tiger Woods squanders another great birdie chance. That was a really bad par at No. 6 after, again, being in perfect position. A so-so chip left an uphill 8-footer. And as it has been all day, the putter that saved him Thursday lets him down Friday.
Score: Par
Total for the day: 1 under
Score for the championship: 2 under
The approach all day has been conservative from Tiger Woods. Even though much of the field has challenged the back pin on No. 7, which has led to a lot of birdies, Woods wasn’t messing with it. Another safe par.
Score: Bogey
Total for the day: Even
Score for the championship: 1 under
Tiger Woods’ streak of holes without a bogey comes to an end at 29. It was his longest streak bogey-free streak at the U.S. Open. The one at No. 8 dropped him back to even par on his second round and 1 under for the championship.
Score: Bogey
Total for the day: 1 over
Score for the championship: Even
Tiger Woods struggles to the finish line of the second round of his U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. A pair of bogeys to close his round, at No. 8 and No. 9, forces him to sign for a 1-over 72 and puts him at even par for the tournament. That’s seven behind leader Justin Rose.