Tiger sits 8 back after struggling on greens in Round 2 at Harding Park
A day after his best putting performance since January, Tiger Woods regressed significantly en route to a 2-over 72 at the PGA Championship on Friday.
After the combined length of his putts measured an astonishing 115 feet on Thursday in his first round with a new, longer putter, Woods couldn't repeat the magic in Round 2 at TPC Harding Park. He didn't make anything over three feet while battling to post a front-nine 37 on the tricky layout.
He opened his second nine with a nine-foot putt for birdie before bogeying the difficult 13th hole to return to 2-over for the tournament. The 15-time major champ would then cancel out a bogey on the 15th with a 12-foot birdie putt on No. 16, before finishing with two pars.
Woods admitted after the round that the conditions on the putting surfaces played a large role in his performance.
"I really struggled with getting the speed of the greens today," Woods said after the round. "They looked faster than what they were putting. They were firm coming into the greens, but they weren't putting as fast as they looked, and then as the day wore on, they got more fuzzy and even slower."
While he made the cut with his 36-hole total of 140, Woods currently sits eight shots off Haotong Li's clubhouse lead. Despite that deficit, the 44-year-old thinks he still has a shot to make some noise in the next couple of days.
"If I can get myself in position where like I did today off the tee, I think I can have a really good weekend," Woods said before heading to the putting green with caddie, Joe LaCava.
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