Tiger Woods stumbles at Arnold Palmer Invitational with even-par second round

Steve DiMeglio, USA TODAY Sports Published 7:23 p.m. ET March 16, 2018 | Updated 7:28 p.m. ET March 16, 2018

SportsPulse: Steve DiMeglio stops by to answer a burning question: Is Tiger Woods officialy back? USA TODAY Sports

ORLANDO — Tiger Woods had everything going in the right direction in his latest return to competitive golf.

Then, on Friday, he couldn’t get anything going.

After a solid 4-under-par 68 in the opening round, Woods shot an even-par 72 in the second round under bright skies at Bay Hill and remained at 4 under through 36 holes of the Arnold Palmer Invitational, which he has won a record eight times. He’ll begin Saturday’s third round seven shots behind the lead set by Henrik Stenson and Bryson DeChambeau, who shot 69 and 66, respectively.

Woods started the day with a bogey when he found trouble with his tee shot, putted his ball off the green on the ninth hole to make another bogey and finished with just two birdies.

“Today was a hard fight,” said Woods, who tied for second last week in the Valspar Championship, his best result since 2015. “It was a grind. It wasn't sharp, but I hung in there and just kept grinding away and chipped away at the golf course. I didn't hit the ball close, I didn't hit the ball well, but I was just hanging in there, hanging in there and just try not to shoot myself out of the tournament.

“I thought something in the red would be great and I just wasn't quite able to do it, but came close.”

And that was Woods talking about the positives he took away from his round.

Then again, there weren’t many good shots to talk about. Certainly, not the iron off the tee at 1 that found trouble and led to a bogey. Not the terrible 9-iron he hit from the middle of the fairway on the ninth that led him to using the putter three times — his first putt went off the green — and another bogey. Not the poor wedge he hit from 106 yards on the 13th that went over the green.

Tiger tracker: Shot-by-shot recap of Woods' even par Round 2

More: Highlights of Woods' second round at Bay Hill

More: Tiger fan sends Edible Arrangement to golfer's back surgeon in thanks

“I didn't hit anything close. I had a couple wedges in my hand and didn't hit them within 20 feet,” Woods said. “It was a little off today and the only thing that I felt really good with was my putter. Even though I blew it off the green on 9, I hit a beautiful second putt and the putter was releasing and flowing, really felt good. But I just couldn't get to the greens fast enough.

“Today was just a bad day. I didn't really feel all that comfortable with a lot of my motion today. It wasn't sharp, it wasn't crisp, and I think it was contagious in the whole group. We all mishit a lot of golf shots today in our group. But we all hung around and we grinded out a score.”

His best shot he hit came on the par-5 16th. His drive found heavy rough and he discussed options with his caddie, Joe LaCava, and what to do with this second shot. The ball was sitting down in long grass, a tree was in between Woods and the green, there is a water hazard fronting the green and Woods had 192 yards to the flagstick.

“The fact that Joey asked me, ‘Do you want any layup numbers?’ pretty much said it all right there,” Woods said. “I said, ‘No, what is it to the flag?’ ‘192.’ I pulled out a 6-iron first. Didn't like the 6 because if it doesn't come out, I'm wet. I took the 5, opened it up, and hit it pretty much as hard as I possibly could.

“I can't believe it landed that soft. I was just trying to get the ball in the bunker, over the bunker, up to the right of the green, chip back, anything like that. I wasn't going to mess with anything left of that flag. It came out perfectly.”

Woods will need to play just about perfectly to catch the leaders on the weekend. The forecast calls for plenty of sunshine and little wind. And the greens at Bay Hill are going to get much firmer and tougher.

“I’m quite a few back,” the winner of 79 PGA Tour titles and 14 majors said. “There's a lot of guys between myself and the lead and if it gets warm like it's supposed to get on the weekend then we're going to make some birdies, the golf course is going to be very short, the only thing that's going to maybe be a deterrent is I don't think they're going to put any water on these (greens).

“I haven't made a lot of bogeys in the last week and a half, but I haven't made a lot of birdies, either. I haven't hit the ball close enough to make a lot of birdies. I’ve got to do a better job of that this weekend in order to run down these guys.”

Tiger Woods warms up on the range prior to the final round of the Hero World Challenge. Mike Ehrmann, Getty Images

Share This Story!

Tiger Woods stumbles at Arnold Palmer Invitational with even-par second round

Sent!

Posted!

Join the Nation's Conversation

Tiger Woods stumbles at Arnold Palmer Invitational with even-par second round

Posted!

Like this topic? You may also like these photo galleries: