2015 PGA Championship cut: Tiger Woods’ lost majors season comes to a merciful close

Tiger Woods, prior to missing the cut at the PGA Championship, decided to extend a season filled with career worsts by "committing" to next week’s Wyndham Championship (although that's not a certainty now either).

Woods posted a 1-over 73 in Friday and Saturday’s weather-delayed second round, finishing at 4-over for two days, two shots outside the cut line. Tiger arrived at the course bright and early Saturday for the 7 a.m. restart with an outside shot to make three birdies in his last five holes and make the cut. Instead, he hit a poor chip shot, missed the par-save, and nearly missed a bogey putt to promptly end that longshot (delusional?) hope of getting 36 more holes.

The MC was the third straight early exit from a major championship for the former world No. 1, who had never missed two in a row until he bombed out early of both the U.S. and British Opens this summer. Finishing his efforts at Whistling Straits 15 strokes back of 36-hole leader Matt Jones seemed somehow a fitting close to a brutal year for Woods, but he will hope once again to turn things around in Greensboro (IF he stays committed).

The four-time PGA winner’s ongoing struggles with his shortest and longest clubs did him in at the PGA, much as his wedges undermined the early part of his season.

If Tiger tried to throw one of his clubs into Lake Michigan, he'd probably miss.

— Two Inches Short (@TwoInchesShort) August 14, 2015

Whistling Straits added two more miserable rounds to the litany of Woods’ lost 2015. There have been a few bright spots --  two decent rounds and a T17 at the Masters, three rounds in the 60s at the Greenbrier and again at the Quicken Loans National. But Woods ended in Wisconsin where he started the year in Phoenix, on his way home after two lousy days of golf.

In between, there was the withdrawal at Torrey Pines, his highest score as a pro (85) and last-place finish at the Memorial, and those two missed cuts at the Opens.

If Tiger Woods records a round over par today, it will be his seventh straight round over par in majors – the longest streak of his career.

— Golf Central (@GolfCentral) August 14, 2015

It was more of the same at the PGA. Woods, who has not won a grand slam tourney since the 2008 U.S. Open -- or a PGA Tour event since 2013 -- scuffled out of the gate on Thursday with a 75 on a course that yielded birdies galore to his opponents.

Frustrated with his putting, which kept him from capitalizing on a myriad of scoring opportunities after he was able to keep his ball in play for most of the morning, Woods predicted on Thursday that his season would be "pretty much over pretty soon." He needed to go low on Friday (and early Saturday) just to get in two more rounds that counted, and at first it seemed he might just fight his way back into the tournament.

On the wrong side of the projected cut line to start, his second round got off to a rocky start when he pulled a fairway wood off the first tee into one of the more than 1,000 bunkers that characterize the links-style track. A wobbly putt cost him an opening birdie, but he got that back and more when he birdied the next two holes.

He gave those shots back and more, with an ugly double-bogey on the par-4 fourth hole that featured two bunker shots.

This kind of sums up Tiger's day. pic.twitter.com/36vgLrQAg2

— THP Golf (@THPGolf) August 14, 2015

After an equally hideous bogey on the par-4 eighth, Woods made the turn at 1-over 37 and 4-over for the week. He carded four pars on the back nine before the horn blew, suspending play for the day. Anything after that would be too little, too late.

So, on a day when Hiroshi Iwata matched the major championship-scoring record with a 9-under 63 and other players golf fans had barely heard of (George Coetzee, 7-under) scorched Whistling Straits, Woods played like the 286th-ranked golfer in the world. If he plays, he will likely take an even lower position with him to Greensboro next week in a last-ditch effort to make it into the FedExCup playoffs.

Woods wasn't the only notable name to miss the cut. Adam Scott really strugged and finished at 7-over. Ian Poulter, Graeme McDowell and British Open champion Zach Johnson also failed to make the weekend. Phil Mickelson is 1-over through 36 holes, good enough to make the cut, but a long way from contention.

Here is a complete look at where the leaderboard stands through 36 holes: