MEDINAH, Ill. — The physical part looks good, which in the big picture is probably the best thing about Tiger Woods‘ performance through 36 holes at the BMW Championship.
But it’s not translating on the scorecard, which is trending toward an early end to Woods’ 2018-19 season after a second straight 1-under-par 71 at Medinah Country Club.
That leaves him miles behind 36-hole leader Hideki Matsuyama as well as a good ways behind the top 11 — the projected finish he needs to advance to next week’s Tour Championship.
“I left quite a few shots out there,” Woods said. “I hit the ball a lot better today, which is great, but didn’t really [make] anything until 14, 15.”
Those birdies got Woods to 3 under par on his round and 4-under for the tournament, in good position to at least make a run on the weekend. But he gave them back with sloppy bogeys at the next two holes, missing greens from the middle of the fairway — both in bunkers — and failing to get up and down.
Woods hit plenty of good shots, especially off the tee, and found 11 of 14 fairways and 13 of 18 greens. Those are good numbers for a guy who withdrew from the Northern Trust last Friday and has been battling back stiffness, which prevented him from practicing.
But that lack of repetition has really showed up in his short game. Woods is not dialed in with his short iron play, saving par just 1 of 5 times, and he needed 30 putts.
“Just practice,” Woods said. “Again, that’s one of the more difficult things, trying to figure out how am I going to practice a lot and train and get treatment and take care of the kids. There’s a lot to it.”
Woods is not giving up on making it to East Lake for the 30-player Tour Championship next week, but the task will be difficult. He was tied for 41st as play continued during Friday’s second round, at least five shots behind the the top 11.
Short of that, Woods’ season will end near Chicago, with just 12 tournaments and no return to the place where he captured his 80th PGA Tour title a year ago.
“I’m going to have to have a great weekend and make a lot of birdies this week and post some rounds in the mid-60s to give myself a chance at it,” Woods said.