Tiger Woods hangs on to make Memorial cut: ‘Aging isn’t fun’

DUBLIN, Ohio — Tiger Woods left himself hanging on the precipice of making the wrong kind of history on Friday. Woods, 44, had never missed a cut in the 17 times he’s played Jack Nicklaus’ Memorial Tournament, an event he’s won five times and finished out of the top 25 only three times. After posting …

DUBLIN, Ohio — Tiger Woods left himself hanging on the precipice of making the wrong kind of history on Friday.

Woods, 44, had never missed a cut in the 17 times he’s played Jack Nicklaus’ Memorial Tournament, an event he’s won five times and finished out of the top 25 only three times.

After posting a 4-over-par 76 in Friday’s second round, though, Woods found himself having to wait out the afternoon to see if he was going to make his 18th consecutive cut at Muirfield Village Golf Club.

When Woods competed his round, he stood at 3-over par for the tournament and was one shot out of the cut, which would proceed to fluctuate all afternoon from 2-over to 3-over before finally settling at 3-over. That meant Woods lived to play another two rounds this weekend — albeit 12 shots out of the lead shared by Tony Finau and Ryan Palmer at 9-under.

Woods, who began his round on the 10th hole, stood on the tee at the par-5 seventh hole (his 16th hole of the day) at 5-over par and looking like he was a goner for the weekend — a rare Friday-afternoon trunk slam for him.

But he birdied Nos. 7 and 8, where he made a 20-foot birdie putt on the par-3, to scratch back to 3-over and within touching range of making the cut.

That Woods, who shot a 1-under 71 in Thursday’s opening round thanks to a birdie on 18 (his final hole), was even in jeopardy of missing the cut was a surprise considering he birdied No. 12 to get to 2-under par.

At that moment, it looked like he was poised to make a run up the leaderboard and vault himself into contention. Instead, he went the other way, carding bogeys on Nos. 13, 15 and 17 and then a double on No. 10 and bogeys on Nos. 2 and 6 before he rallied with those birdies on 7 and 8.

Woods, who missed the fairway on No. 9, his final hole, and was forced to make a 7-foot par-save putt just to stay at 3-over and give himself a chance to play the weekend.

It was clear, particularly on his back nine, that Woods’ balky back was bothering him as he kept missing tee shots to the right while releasing his right hand from the club on the follow-through.

“I wasn’t quite moving as well as I’d like and couldn’t quite turn back and couldn’t quite clear,’’ Woods said. “It was a bit of a struggle. It started this morning during the warm-up. It wasn’t quite as good as I’d like.

“Aging is not fun. Early on in my career, I thought it was fantastic because I was getting better and better and better, and now I’m just trying to hold on.’’

Woods’ physical struggles on Friday came one day after he was asked if, after not having played a tournament in five months, he was concerned about the quick turnaround playing the second round.

His answer: “No, I’ve felt good about my training over the last few months. I’ve gotten ready for this.’’

Woods, however, indicated on Friday that he never really knows what he’s going to get from his body from day-to-day when he wakes up in the morning.

“The last four or five years have been difficult as I’ve gone through [back] procedures and have tried to come back,’’ he said. “It’s going to happen more times than not. I don’t have the same type of stamina as I used to have when I was training hard and running and all that stuff. Granted, I’m a lot older now, so things change, they evolve. Energy, you try to suck it up as best you can and get through it.’’

Rory McIlroy, who along with Brooks Koepka was grouped with Woods the past two days, said after the round that he could see Woods laboring as the day went on.

“He looked pretty good starting off, and then you could sort of tell when we made the turn, he hit a couple fairway wood shots off the tee that he sort of quit on,’’ McIlroy said. “It looked a little bit that way — that he wasn’t quite moving as well. But he battled really well. He made those two birdies coming in and a good save on 9. Hopefully that’s enough for him to be around for the weekend.’’

He will be. How his back will feel when he wakes on Saturday morning is anyone’s guess.