Tiger Woods likely to miss the cut after sliding to 10 over at US Open

Tiger Woods appears certain to miss the cut for only the third time at the US Open after another erratic day at Shinnecock Hills.

Woods added a 72 to his opening 78 to close on 10 over par at the halfway stage, although a birdie-birdie finish to his second round at least gave him a fighting chance to play another 36 holes over the weekend.

Woods began with a triple-bogey on Thursday, but he enjoyed a far more positive start to his second round at the 10th as he clipped a wedge to within three feet to set up an opening birdie.

He got away with an errant drive at the 12th, saving par with a classy pitch to two feet, but a blocked tee shot into a fairway bunker at the tough 14th would lead to his first bogey of the day.

Woods responded with a birdie at the par-five 16th, but he gave the shot back at 18 when another wayward drive hit a marshal and dropped into a bad lie in the rough, from where he gouged his second into a greenside bunker.

But he overhit his splash-out and two-putted for bogey, and worse was to come at the first as he pushed his approach too far right and could not hold the green with his third, resulting in a double-bogey that meant he was five over for the opening hole alone.

Another bogey at the short second effectively ended his chances of making it into the weekend and, after he failed to take advantage of the long fifth, he leaked his drive at the next into the dense fescue and bogeyed to drop to 12 over.

However, Woods did revive his slim hopes of extending his tournament with a spirited finish, holing from 10 feet for birdie at the eighth before finding the target again from double that distance on the ninth green, which left him a long wait to find out his fate.

“I’m not very happy the way I played and the way I putted,” said Woods, who also missed the cut on his most recent US Open appearance in 2015. “I’m 10 over par, so I don’t know that you can be too happy and too excited about 10 over par.

“I finally made a putt or two at the end, and I’ve given myself enough looks. But I haven’t made anything the last couple days, and consequently I’ve put myself behind the eight-ball early in my rounds. Today I got off to a nice, positive start, but still I didn’t make anything.

“I wanted to shoot something around 68, 67, and I thought that would have been a great score. I looked at it as kind of progressively putting myself back into position, but I couldn’t chase down the leaders right away. It would have taken two-and-a-half to three rounds to do that – unfortunately I went the other way.

“It’s just what I’ve done the last few events, I just haven’t putted well. You know, if I could have putted like I did at the beginning of the year with this ball-striking, that would be ideal. Unfortunately, I just haven’t done that.”

But Woods delivered a sharp response to a journalist who asked him if he remained confident about being able to win majors again.

“Absolutely,” he said. “Have you seen the way I’ve been swinging?”

(c) Sky News 2018: Tiger Woods likely to miss the cut after sliding to 10 over at US Open