Tiger Woods didn’t make it easy on himself.
In fact, he almost wasted his solid opening round and nearly had to make the trek home from San Francisco early.
But thanks to a pair of pars to close his round out, and a clutch birdie on No. 16, Woods finished his day with a 2-over 72 and Even for the tournament — just good enough to keep him playing through the weekend.
“Today was different,” Woods said. “I drove it great. Missed a few irons on the short side. Didn’t get up-and-down.
“And I really struggled with getting the speed of the greens today. They looked faster than what they were putting. They were firm coming into the greens, but they weren’t putting as fast as they looked, and then as the day wore on, they got a little more fuzzy and got even slower, and I struggled even a little bit more hitting the putts hard enough.”
Woods got off to a bit of a slow start on Friday afternoon.
After making par on his opening two holes, Woods’ drive landed in the bunker on the par-3 third. While his chip out nearly landed right in the hole, it rolled well past. His putt for par was just off the mark — something he struggled with all day — and left him with his first bogey of the round. He slipped again on No. 9, bouncing from fairway bunker to a greenside bunker en route to his second bogey on the front side.
Though he picked up his first birdie of the day on No. 10 — Woods’s second shot on the par-5 landed just inches off the front of the green, setting up a two-putt birdie — Woods bogeyed Nos. 13 and 15 to drop to 1-over on the week, which moved him right up to the projected cutline.
Thankfully for Woods, he drained a 12-foot birdie putt on No. 16 to give him some room. He had chances on the final two holes for birdie, but his putts were again just off.
At even, Woods is eight back of leader Haotong Li
Can he still win this week?
“Yeah,” he answered reporters plainly.
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