Tiger makes cut at Memorial, but 10 behind

By Dave Shedloski

DUBLIN, Ohio - Well, you can't win them all. Even Tiger Woods seems willing to accept that. Which was the news of the day in the second round of the Memorial Tournament.

Woods struggled to a 2-over-par 74 Friday morning at Muirfield Village GC, just his ninth score in plus territory in 54 tournament rounds. His two-day total of 1-over 145 was good enough to make his 15th cut in as many appearances at Jack Nicklaus' invitational, but he'll find himself beginning the third round 10 strokes behind Bill Haas, who has never finished better than T-30 at Memorial - unless you count the year as a college student when he caddied for his father, Jay, whose nine top-10s in 29 Memorial starts is a record.

Woods, of course, has eight top-10s here, including his record five wins. He's won four times this year, including favorite haunts Torrey Pines GC and Bay Hill, and is coming off a victory in The Players three weeks ago.

That he is struggling at the Memorial seems like a bit of a head scratcher, given those circumstances.

"I haven't won every tournament I've played in," Woods said.

No, it only seems that way, particularly this year when his victory clip thus far is running better than .500.

The last time Woods shot as high as 74 at Muirfield Village was in the second round of 2009. He then reeled off 69-65 on the weekend to win for the fourth time.

Perhaps the surprise related to Woods' performance thus far is that he's only missed four fairways. Conventional wisdom says that when Woods drives it well, he'll put himself in contention.

Not happening this week.

The culprit is a suddenly cold putter. After 30 whacks Thursday, Woods needed 29 more on Friday, including three at the par-5 15th that resulted in a double-bogey. Woods missed a five-foot par putt on the lightning-fast greens and then came up empty on the eight-foot comeback try.

Normally a brute on par-5s, he's even on them so far.

"Tough conditions out there, and I didn't exactly play my best, either," said the No. 1 player in the world. "It's a little rough out there. It's not that hard to make bogeys and doubles on this golf course."

Though he hasn't often done that, which probably speaks to the current state of his game. But he was not chagrined. "I'm not too disappointed with it," he said. "I'm not that far off. On a golf course like this, with the wind gusts like this, it's tough."

As for his putting, he didn't blame the slick greens, though Jim Furyk, who won the 2002 Memorial, said he'd never seen them faster, and the wind was making them even more devious.

"It was kind of a mental thing I was struggling with out there," he said.

Hmmmm. That's news too.

(Getty Images photo)