When Tiger Woods teed off on Friday, he was sitting directly on the cut line. His 74 on Thursday put him behind the eight ball at the 104th PGA Championship, but an even-par second round at Southern Hills Country Club would all but lock up a Saturday tee time. He did one better, and his round of 69 did just that.
Woods started his day with four-straight stress-free pars thanks to a great lie in the right-hand rough down No. 1, an up and down from a greenside bunker on No. 2, and two good lag putts on 3 and 4.
His first birdie came at the par-5 fifth after sticking a wedge from 108 to five feet. After two pars on Nos. 6 and 7, Woods failed to get up and down on the par-3 8th and made his first bogey of the day to fall back to even.
After missing a birdie on 9 and then draining one for a three on 10, Woods would make a double on the par-3 11th to move to 1 over on the day and outside the cut line. Two holes later, however, Woods buried a 10 footer for birdie to get back to even.
Gutsy pars on 14 and 15 kept the momentum building and Woods on the right side of the cutline. On the monster par-4 16th, he fired a 5-iron from 209 yards to a few feet for another birdie. With a nice up and down on 17, he walked to the last with a shot to play with to make the weekend.
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After finding the fairway and green in regulation on 18, Woods two-putted for par to make the cut. After 36 holes, he’s 12 shots back of leader Will Zalatoris.
A gutsy performance from the 15-time major champion. He’s now 2-for-2 in cuts made in the majors in 2022.
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