AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Tiger Woods made a meme of himself on the first nine before sneaking inside the cut line on the second half of his second round at the 2018 Masters. Woods went out with a 3-over 39 on the first nine Friday before adding another bogey at the 12th where he hit it in the water for the second straight day. Then he buckled down with the cut line looming and birdied Nos. 13 and 15 to stay one clear of missing the weekend.

Woods is now 19-for-19 making cuts as a professional at Augusta National, but after a 3-over 75 on Thursday and a total score of 3-over 147 entering the weekend, he's 13 shots back of leader Patrick Reed and has no realistic shot of winning this golf tournament. That's a disappointment for Woods, who came into the tournament in the top 10 on the PGA Tour in strokes gained and had finished in the top 12 in each of his last three PGA Tour events.

Big Cat has just not been sharp with his iron play. He hit 15-of-28 fairways off the tee, which is pretty good for him, but just 21-of-36 greens in regulation, which is right at the field average and far below what Woods should be hitting. 

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"I hit so many beautiful putts that nothing went in today," Woods told ESPN's Tom Rinaldi. "I didn't hit my irons very crisp, very clean. Didn't control my distance with shapes or anything."

The 5th hole Friday served as a microcosm of that issue. Woods flew his second shot well over the green and into an area probably only Phil Mickelson and a handful of amateurs are familiar with at Augusta. That led to some fun on Twitter after Woods went in ... well ... the woods to find his Bridgestone. He took an unplayable lie, and then he took a double bogey.

It helped touch off a two-day stretch in which he played the first nine in 4 over with just one birdie and none on either of the par 5s. The second nine was better on Friday, and Woods closed somewhat crisply. But by that time, he was too far out of it for it to really matter.

So Tiger's push for major championship No. 15 will have to wait, but there is still much work to be done. In the same way it took Woods a few tournaments to get back into the flow of life on the PGA Tour, it will probably take a few majors to get back into the flow of the biggest four events in the world. That's something we all probably didn't factor in when considering Woods at this year's Masters.

Woods has looked uncomfortable over the first few days. Augusta National and its strange lies and second shots that require all your creativity can do that to you. And physically, Woods just isn't as capable as he used to be. That doesn't mean he won't ever be good at this place again. It doesn't even mean he won't shoot 68-68 on the weekend here. But it does mean that maybe it's going to take more time to get reacquainted with Augusta than anyone, Tiger included, thought.

Unfortunately for Woods, time is one thing he doesn't have a ton of anymore. He has noted over and over that there is no teacher like tournament golf, but the Masters only comes around once a year and Woods will be 43 next time it's played. Just as Mickelson lamented on Friday, Woods only has so many cracks left at this place.

"As you get older, you feel a little bit more pressure each one because you don't feel as though you have unlimited number of events," said Mickelson.

So Tiger will play early on Saturday, which in December 2017 probably would have felt like a win. After February and March? It probably, understandably feels like a loss.

Still, Tiger Woods is playing at Augusta National on a weekend at the Masters. It might not be the storyline we hoped to transpire, but it's the one we got. And it's certainly better than the alternative.

"It was about six months ago I wasn't putting balls in play again," Woods told ESPN. "It's incredible. I'm so excited to have this opportunity to play golf again. Playing at the major championship level, the Tour level is a bonus. Just being able to play golf again -- something I've able to do my entire life -- I'm thankful."