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It would appear that Winged Foot is to Tiger Woods as Kryptonite is to Superman.

The New York course is the first major championship venue where the former world No.1 has missed the cut more than once.

After opening with a three-over 73 in the COVID-delayed US Open, Woods toiled to a seven-over 77 to lie ten-over for the tournament and get the weekend off – just as he did in 2006 when the championship was last staged there.

It means that, for the sixth time in the last seven years, the 15-time major champion will play no part in the final two rounds of the second men’s major of the season.

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His day had started relatively well, with four consecutive pars as windy, firmer conditions made the course an almost entirely different proposition to the one faced by the players on Thursday. However, a bogey at the 14th – his fifth – set the tone for what was to follow. Doubles at the 16th and 18th compounded a miserable front nine and left him with a mountain to climb to muscle his way into the weekend. 

Even for a three-time winner of the championship, that proved too tall a task. He bogeyed four of his first six holes after the turn. Birdies at the seventh and ninth restored some of Woods’ battered pride but were to no other meaningful avail.

“It’s frustrating that I’m not going to be here for the weekend and be able to compete for this great championship,” said a dejected Woods afterwards. “It feels like the way the golf course is changing, is turning, that anybody who makes the cut has the opportunity to win this championship. I didn’t give myself that opportunity.

“The whole goal of entering an event is to win, and when I don’t give myself that opportunity over the weekend, it doesn’t feel good.”

• Coach Harmon slates US Open course set-up

Having made the cut in all bar one of his first 18 US Open appearances, Woods has now failed to advance the weekend of the championship on three of his four most recent starts. 

However, he was by no means the only big name to miss the cut as Winged Foot showed its teeth on a brutal second day. 

Jordan Spieth carded his worst-ever round in the championship – a bruising 11-over 81 – as his well-documented struggles continued. 

• 7 things the US Open champ can look forward to

The 2017 Masters champion Sergio Garcia also had an 81 in round two to finish 15-over, one shot worse off than Spieth.

Ian Poulter, Tyrrell Hatton, Henrik Stenson, Graeme McDowell, Justin Rose and Tommy Fleetwood will also play no further part in the event, nor will Phil Mickelson, for whom this could feasibly have been a final US Open appearance.


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Michael McEwan is the Deputy Editor of bunkered and has been part of the team since 2004. In that time, he has interviewed almost every major figure within the sport, from Jack Nicklaus, to Rory McIlroy, to Donald Trump. The host of the multi award-winning bunkered Podcast and a member of Balfron Golfing Society, Michael is the author of three books and is the 2023 PPA Scotland 'Writer of the Year' and 'Columnist of the Year'. Dislikes white belts, yellow balls and iron headcovers. Likes being drawn out of the media ballot to play Augusta National.

Deputy Editor

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