(CNN) — He hasn’t won a major for 10 years and he won’t win one this week either as Tiger Woods played his way out of the US Open after two rounds at Shinnecock Hills.
The former world No.1 carded a two-over 72 Friday to slide to 10 over and is in danger of missing the cut in his first US Open for three years as he continues his comeback from multiple back surgeries.
Woods’ playing partner Dustin Johnson was in a four-way tie for the lead overnight but the world No.1 surged clear with a 67 to set the bar at four under, a score likely to seal Woods’ exclusion from the weekend.
Former world No.1 Woods resumed at eight over on a wet morning on Long Island, looking to make some amends for Thursday’s disappointing round, and an opening birdie at his first hole, the 10th, suggested he was in the mood to claw his way back up the leaderboard.
Another birdie on the 16th was canceled out by two bogeys to reach the turn level par for the day, but Woods toiled early on the back nine.
He made a double bogey on the first hole — scene of Thursday’s opening triple — and also bogeyed the short second to plummet to 11 over.
He dropped another shot on the sixth, but like the Woods of old he kept fighting to the end and closed with back-to-back birdies to offer a glimmer of hope.
“I’m not very happy the way I played and the way I putted,” Woods told reporters.
“You don’t win major championships by kind of slapping all around the place and missing putts. You have to be on.
“You just can’t fake it at a major championship.”
Patience a virtue
Johnson, meanwhile, was showing why he is the best player in the world, marrying an impressive short game with his prodigious length to open up a gap on the field.
“It’s a tough golf course, tough conditions, so it’s very important to stay patient all day,” said the 2016 champion.
The laconic American, who described a monster putt for birdie on the short seventh as merely a “good one,” said one of his keys was not getting angry on the golf course.
“Why am I going to get upset about a bad shot I hit? I do it every day when I play. So you just got to go find it and hit it again,” he said.
The man Johnson usurped at the head of the game, Justin Thomas, was the third member of the trio and stayed patient to card a level-par 70 to remain four over.
The round of the week so far came from England’s Tommy Fleetwood, the world No.12, who fired 66 to climb to one over. Only four players broke par Thursday with scores of 69.
“I kind of like the grind and the patience game and kind of how tough it is,” Fleetwood told Sky Sports.
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