Golf: Tiger Woods missed only the sixth cut of his professional career last night and admitted he would spend the weekend watching "how real players play golf".
The world number one failed to make it to the final two rounds of the Quail Hollow Championship in Charlotte, North Carolina just his second event back after he took a break from the sport following revelations regarding a series of extra-marital affairs.
He shot a 79 to finish up nine over par for his two rounds, and will now bid to pick up the pieces at The Players Championship in Florida next week.
Asked if it bothered him that he had missed the cut, Woods added: “It does bother me, no doubt. But at least I get the weekend to watch and see how it’s done, how real players play golf, and hopefully I can piece it together for next week and be ready to go.”
He added: “I didn’t play well, and more importantly my short game wasn’t very good. I chipped poorly, putted poorly, but for the most part I didn’t really hit the ball that poorly until the end when it was already pretty much out of reach.”
Woods had only missed five cuts in 240 starts as a professional prior to this event.
His last early exit came in the British Open at Turnberry last year. Before that it was the 2006 US Open shortly after the death of his father Earl.
Woods’ last missed cut in a non-major was at the 2005 Children’s Miracle Network Classic at Walt Disney World.
Any faint chances of making the cut in Charlotte disappeared on the 14th when he ran up a double-bogey six, missing the green and then pitching into the water.
And another double bogey on the next had the American in danger of surpassing his worst score as a professional — he shot 81 in horrendous conditions in the third round of the Open at Muirfield in 2002.
At the other end of the leaderboard, Billy Mayfair leads the way at eight under after another round of 68, with last year’s Masters winner Angel Cabrera one shot back after a round of 67.
JP Hayes shot the best round of the day with a 64 to take him into a share of third place alongside, among others, new Masters champion Phil Mickelson.
Pádraig Harrington paid the price for an untidy finish which ultimately left the Dubliner exactly where he started on level par after a second successive 72.
The three-time major winner picked up three birdies and an eagle at the seventh against two bogeys on the front nine and threatened to get into contention. However, three bogeys on the back nine – including the 16th and 18th – put paid to any progress.
Rory McIlroy signed for a 73 and just made it into the weekend on the cut mark of one over.
Goosen forced out of Players
A broken toe suffered playing with his two children has forced Retief Goosen to withdraw from next week’s Players Championship in Florida.
The double US Open champion also had to miss the Quail Hollow Championship because of the injury, but he hopes to be fit again for the European Tour’s flagship BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth on May 20-23.
He is one of 11 players who will not be at Sawgrass for golf’s richest tournament — it has a total purse of over £6.2million and a first prize of more than £1.1million.
Dubai Desert Classic champion Miguel Angel Jimenez, World Cup winner Edoardo Molinari and Ryder Cup Dane Soren Hansen have all opted for the Italian Open, where the prize money is the same as the winner’s cheque in America and the winner earns £216,666.
Sixty-year-old Open runner-up Tom Watson and 2005 US Open champion Michael Campbell, whose wretched form has prompted him to take a lengthy break from the sport, have also turned down their spots and so have South African Louis Oosthuizen, injured American Rich Beem and Japan’s top two Ryo Ishikawa and Yuta Ikeda.