For Tiger, 'it was just problem after problem'

TURNBERRY, Scotland -- The lighthouse perched on the historic, craggy, coastal promontory has stood near the turn at Turnberry for decades.

At the British Open on Friday, the lights were turned out for Tiger Woods' title hopes over that scenic, wind-swept stretch.

Woods, struggling this week to strike the ball crisply in both good weather and bad, was swept away in the second round when he played a six-hole stretch in 7 over par to shoot a 4-over 74, missing the cut at the 138th Open by a shot.

Tiger Woods has no plans for the weekend after shooting a 74 on Friday. (AP)

In one of the most abrupt disasters of his career, it started going seriously sideways for Woods on No. 8, when he made the first of consecutive bogeys. He added sloppy double-bogeys at the 10th and 13th and missed the cut for only the sixth time as a pro in a PGA Tour-sanctioned event and the second time at a major championship.

It was a shocking tartan partin'. The oldest (Tom Watson, age 59) and the youngest (Matteo Manassero, 16 and an amateur) made the cut. But not the best.

•  Round 2 recap | Leaderboard | Tiger's card

Woods, the suffocating favorite in the British betting parlors this week, finished 5 over, the first time he was sent packing on the weekend since the 2006 U.S. Open, when he missed the cut after a two-month layoff following the death of his father. The exit was hastened by a complete mid-round mess, leaving him winless at the three Grand Slam events this season.

"You have to play clean to win majors and I haven't done that," he said afterward.

No question, Woods said, this skewed toward ugly.

Woods once finished a tour-record 142 events in the money over the 1998-2005 seasons. He began the round six shots off the lead after an uneven, opening 71 despite perfect conditions, and despite making clutch birdies at Nos. 16 and 17 to get within striking range of the cut, he missed the green at the last and failed to chip in for birdie from 20 yards and settled for par.

He hadn't finished outside the top 10 in a stroke-play event in exactly two years, so this was a lightning bolt from the blue for everybody.

"Well, that is surprising," said 59-year-old co-leader Watson. "It seems like he's been playing awfully well this year. Links golf, I've played it when I'm not playing very well, and it's a struggle. You add a little wind to it like we had today and it's more of a struggle.

"How do you get the ball in play? And when you're not very confident about where you're hitting it and you start hitting it sideways a few times, then it it gets to you. I don't care how good you are, it gets to you."

The post-mortem won't be hard. If there's one truism about golf, it's that a stiff wind will separate those who are striking the ball well from those who are not in a wee Scottish minute. Woods fell into the latter category for a crucial 90-minute period on the wind-battered coastal stretch.

"It was just, it was just problem after problem," Woods said. "I kept compounding my problems out there."

The par-4 eighth, where the course parallels the shoreline of the Firth of Clyde and veers directly toward the resort's iconic lighthouse, marked the spot where the Turnberry turnaway began. Whitecaps had replaced the idyllic and calm conditions of a day earlier, and Woods was desperately trying to keep his tee balls in play.

After bogeys at Nos. 8 and 9 following wayward tee shots into the hay, he sprayed his 3-wood tee shot way right into the gunch on the 10th and lost his ball -- even though he choked up on the club to keep it in play. He made a nice recovery and drained a seven-footer to salvage a double bogey, which at the time seemed like a crucial putt since it moved him to 4 over and left him right on the bubble for the projected cut.

Not the case. Woods, dressed from head to toe in black, produced too many black numbers in the aftermath. His iron off the tee on No. 12 rolled into a pot bunker, and he eventually missed a 20-footer for par.

The worst was still ahead. He missed the fairway and the green at the 13th, then watched in shock and dismay as his greenside chip shot rolled back toward his footprints. From there, he failed to get up and down and made his second double-bogey in three holes, all but cementing his fate, despite the two late birdies coming in.

Nobody envisioned anything of the sort. After missing the weekend at the 2006 U.S. Open, Woods had again fashioned the longest streak of consecutive weeks in the money and entered this week having made 38 straight.

Woods was 1 under for the day as he approached the lighthouse holes, and even the greatest player of his generation couldn't find a Band-Aid big enough to patch his swing. The wind was gusting, his swing was disgusting.

"If I could have just played those holes well, I'd be fine, coming home downwind, could make some birdies coming home," Woods said. "I didn't do that. I hit some bad tee shots, a couple bad iron shots, didn't get it up and down. Kept making mistake after mistake."

With the breeze blowing, Woods put his 5-wood back in the bag before the round and ditched the 2-iron he used Thursday, but regardless of the ammo, he seemed to have trouble all week keeping the ball under the wind and hit several parachuting shots that sailed far afield. There were few, if any, trademark stingers, other than the slap in the face of going home early.

"You know, sometimes when you're trying to win a tournament it's less stressful than when you're coming down on Friday and you need three pars and a birdie to make the cut," said Mark Calcavecchia, who is one shot off the lead. "Because when you're trying to win a tournament I've always said that means you're playing well, you're confident."

Even the royals couldn't bring the reigning king of the sport any luck when he was grasping for life preservers. Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, was in the gallery as it all fell apart for Woods.

"Well, you don't often see him play shots like that, some of the shots he played," said playing partner Lee Westwood, who has played with the world No. 1 several times over the years. "But everybody is entitled to a bad day every now and again. It happens to all of us.

"It's difficult out there. And if you're not quite on your game, things like that can happen."

For Woods, everything happened in a hurry.

"Obviously, it's disappointing, there's no doubt," Woods said. "I was playing well coming in, and today unfortunately I just didn't play certain holes well."

While most of the scrutiny will center on the fateful mid-round stretch, the rest of the Woods' week wasn't up to his norms, especially considering he won in his last start two weeks ago. He hit 15 of 28 (53.6 percent) of the fairways and 21 of 36 (62.0) greens.

"Obviously you can't make mistakes and expect to not only make the cut, but also try and win a championship," Woods said.