ST. ANDREWS, Scotland -- Where so many of his major-championship marches used to finish with Sunday acclaim, for Tiger Woods in this summer of '15 they are ending with hollow Friday walks. The fact that his final swings at the 144th British Open have spilled over into a few hours of a Saturday morning doesn't change the dismay.
These are rough times for the greatest player of his generation.
Teeing off at approximately 6 p.m. local time, Woods didn't flash any more life to his game than he did in opening with 76 Thursday. Though he avoided the bogey-bogey start that stunned folks along Links Way on Thursday morning, Woods did bogey Nos. 4 and 6 at the Old Course to fall to 6 over for the championship. When too much sunlight had been squeezed from the gray Scottish sky, Woods and his playing competitors, Jason Day and Louis Oosthuizen, had agreed on an easy and unanimous decision: Enough was enough, and their days were done at 9:37 p.m.
They were on the 12th hole and Woods, having made just his second birdie of the championship at the par-4 10th, was 5 over, likely staring at a second consecutive missed cut in a major championship for the first time in his illustrious career.
Struggling to find any sort of rhythm and devoid of any consistency, Woods found that his game also was exposed when compared with his playing competitors'. In just 29 holes, he has been outscored to the tune of 13 strokes by Day (8 under) and 12 by Oosthuizen (7 under).
For all the convoluted explanations about swing changes and processes and baseline shifts, it remains inexplicable as to how something once so flawless is now so fragile.
With so much of the competitive attention shifted to Tom Watson's final steps in the British Open, the reality was cold and raw dusk had settled on the Auld Grey Toon, and the option to halt play was extended to the final 15 games.
Only Watson, Ernie Els and Brandt Snedeker played on and finished, which means that 42 players will return at 7 a.m. Saturday, local time, with some having as many as 12 holes left before Round 2 is finished and a cut can be made.
When darkness fell, there were 83 players at level par. If that remains the cut line, Woods will have a serious challenge if he wants to avoid missing the cut in Opens on both sides of the Atlantic. Hard to fathom, given the way he once dominated these big events, but after having made the cut in each of his first 37 major starts as a pro and 47 of the first 48, Woods is staring at his fifth missed cut in his last 21 majors.
Just a month ago, he shot 80-76 and left after 36 holes of the U.S. Open at Chambers Bay. Tack on his 29 holes here at the Old Course and the numbers are mind-boggling: In 65 holes, he has made just five birdies, has made bogey or worse on 24, and he's 21 over par.
In other words, he's worlds away from being the guy who demolished the competition in 2000 and 2005 here at the Old Course, winning Claret Jugs by eight and five strokes, respectively.
In a town where history is revered, this chapter seemingly has come much earlier than expected.
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