Account
Tiger Woods in 14th Place at 2018 Honda Classic After Shooting 1 over on Friday
February 23, 2018
For 14 holes, Tiger Woods looked like he'd be heading into the weekend in a (recently) unfamiliar place—on the leaderboard of a PGA Tour golf tournament.
A bad two hole stretch ruined Woods' chances of making that happen, but he'll still go into Saturday within striking distance of the lead after carding a one-over 71 in the second round of the 2018 Honda Classic. He's into the clubhouse in a tie for 14th place.
Luke List and Jamie Lovemark currently lead the tournament at three under overall.
Woods played through the first 14 holes of his second round at one under, atoning for a bogey on No. 2 with a pair of birdies on Nos. 4 and 9. A string of five straight pars to start the back nine kept Woods in the top 10—right before a shot into the drink on No. 15 sent his round briefly off the rails. Woods was unable to save bogey after hitting his third shot within 17 feet of the hole, leaving him with a double and putting him back to one over on the day and overall.
Another errant tee shot on No. 15 left Woods scrambling again, but this time it was his putter that was his undoing. He rode a 65-foot birdie putt more than 16 feet past the hole and was unable to convert the par save on his next shot before tapping in for another bogey.
The two-hole stretch sent him from the precipice of the leaderboard to outside the top 20. Woods drained a 12-foot birdie putt on the par-three 17th to get a stroke back and then finished out his round by missing out on a chance to get back to even par with a par on No. 18.
Playing in back to back tournaments for the first time since the 2015 PGA season, Woods is in a far better position than he was a week ago—when a pair of poor rounds turned into him missing the cut at the Genesis Open.
Still, there are some obvious kinks in his game that need working out. Woods has double-bogeyed twice in as many days to undo potential under-par rounds that could have had him near or at the top of the leaderboard.
The conditions have suppressed scores to major championship levels, so these aren't critical errors. Woods is very much within striking distance of the lead, but we could be having an entirely different conversation if he could figure out what's going on in in the tee box.