TULSA,
United States —
Tiger Woods battled his way through sore legs and double-bogey disaster to make
the cut at the PGA Championship, hungry to make the most of his few chances to
play.
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The 15-time major winner, struggling with
severe leg injuries suffered in a February 2021 car crash, fired a
one-under-par 69 on Friday to reach the weekend on three-over 143 at Southern
Hills.
“Coming back here to a place that I’ve had
success on, to play against the best players in the world, that’s what we all
want to be able to do,” Woods said. “Fortunately enough, I’m able to somehow do
it.”
Woods won the 2007 PGA on the same course,
setting an 18-hole record with a 63 in the process.
But Woods spent weeks hospitalized and months
unable to walk before starting the rehabilitation that enabled him to return
after 14 months at last month’s Masters, where he shared 47th and was happy to
be able to walk 18 holes.
“I’ve had a great PT (physical therapy) staff
that have put Humpty Dumpty back together, and we’ll go out there tomorrow,”
Woods said.
Such chances will be rare for Woods in the
future.
“I’m not going to be playing a lot of
tournaments going forward. They’re going to be the biggest tournaments. I want
to be able to play the major championships. I’ve always loved playing them.”
Woods said his right leg, held together with
rods and screws, felt better than Thursday when he shot 74. Asked to put it on
a 1–10 scale, he said, “All of that.”
After a double-bogey at 11 that put him over
the cut line at 144, Woods birdied the par-5 13th and par-4 16th to safely
reach the weekend, but he also blasted a bunker shot at 15 to three feet and
saved par there.
“Had to fight back, which I was able to do,”
Woods said. “At 15, that was a tasty little bunker shot. I didn’t like putting
myself there, but I liked executing the shot.”
Woods is declaring he still has a chance to
win, even as he hits the weekend 12 strokes off the pace.
“You can’t win the tournament if you miss the
cut,” he said. “There’s a reason why you fight hard and you’re able to give
yourself a chance on the weekend. You just never know when you might get hot.
“This weekend I’m going to have to go low.
I’ve got to do some things physically to get myself there tomorrow and it will
be a quick turnaround.
“Hopefully I can post a good round and at
least move up the board, get myself within striking distance on Sunday. I’m
pretty far back, but you just never know.”
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