01 May,2010 10:24 AM IST | | Agencies
Tiger Woods crashed out at Quail Hollow, missing the cut for just the sixth time in his US PGA Tour career as his golf became the news for the wrong reasons.
The world number one, playing just his second tournament since revelations of marital infidelity sent him into a five-month self-imposed exile, denied that he gave up as his score spiraled to a seven-over 79.
That gave him a nine-over total of 153 that saw him miss the cut by a shocking eight strokes as Monday qualifier Billy Mayfair took the halfway lead. Woods has always seemed to give maximum effort on every shot, even when struggling.
But after hitting his second shot into a water hazard at the par-four 14th, en route to a double bogey, he began playing his subsequent shots in a matter or seconds, seemingly without any care.
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"At that point in time it was pretty much out of reach and I was just trying to stay out of Angel's way," he said, referring to playing partner Angel Cabrera of Argentina who finished the day a stroke from the lead. "He's the one leading the tournament and that's what you're supposed to do," Woods said.
"I didn't play very well and, more importantly, I chipped poorly, putted poorly, but for the most part I didn't really hit the ball that poorly until the end. "It does bother me, no doubt," he added of missing the cut.
"But at least I get the weekend to watch and see how it's done, how real players play golf.
Hopefully I can piece it together for next week and be ready to go." Woods, who hit only two fairways, most recently missed a cut at last year's British Open, and before then at the 2006 US Open.
Until Friday, he had not missed a cut at a regular PGA Tour event since 2005.
He was still in with a good chance of advancing to the weekend when he turned at two-over, but bogeys at the next three holes left him needing a late-round miracle.
However, it got worse after that as he ran up back-to-back double bogeys for only the second time of his professional career.
His dreadful performance will raise questions whether he is able to focus on golf while he tries to sort out his personal problems.u00a0
