Tiger Woods will play Honda as ugly day likely ends Genesis run

PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. — The feel-good portion of Tiger Woods’ comeback has hit its first pothole.

Woods, playing in his second full-field tournament in the past year, likely will miss the cut at the Genesis Open at Riviera Country Club thanks to a sloppy back nine Friday afternoon. On a day when he needed to shoot nothing worse than 1-over to make the cut, Woods shot a 5-over 76 to flame out at 6-over for two days — a few zip codes away from making the cut.

Three weeks ago, Woods played all four rounds in the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines and finished tied for 23rd, leaving San Diego with a positive feeling about his comeback from back surgery.

He had hopes of improving upon that result this week in a tournament that is run by and benefits his foundation. But back-to-back-to-back bogeys on Nos. 11, 12 and 13 Friday derailed any chance of that. Woods missed a 4-foot par putt on the par-5 11th hole, then missed a 6-foot par putt on No. 12, then a 12-footer for par on No. 13.

That left him 5-over with five holes to play and the cut at that time hovering at 1-over, which is where he began the day.

It was a discouraging round and a bad end to the week for Woods, who is desperate for competitive tournament rounds as he attempts to ramp up for the Masters, which would be the first major championship he has played in since the 2015 PGA Championship.

Maybe it was a sign Woods knew this was coming that as he was playing the front nine, news of him committing to next week’s Honda Classic was released. Woods, who had until Friday afternoon to commit to the Honda, had been oddly coy in recent days about whether he would play the Honda at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, which is a 15-minute drive from his home.

He said he was waiting to see how his body felt before he committed to play back-to-back tournaments.

Now, though, he needs reps to the point at which it shouldn’t be ruled out to see him play Tampa the week before the Arnold Palmer Invitational, which he never has done before. Certainly if he misses the cut at the Honda, he likely would play Tampa.

Woods’ options to play before Augusta are limited because two of the upcoming tournaments are World Golf Championship events for which he’s not qualified to play based on his world ranking, which was 550th entering this week. And a third tournament, the Houston Open, is the week before the Masters, and Woods never plays a tournament the week before a major.

This week at Genesis, and particularly Friday, was not meant to be for Woods, who scrambled in his opening round just to shoot a 1-over 73. On Friday, he never got anything going on the front nine, shooting a 2-over 37 with bogeys on Nos. 6, 7 and 9.

So he made the turn at 3-over, which was ominous. A birdie on the short par-4 10th hole got him back to 2-over and briefly restored hope he would be able to make the cut. But the sloppy three-hole stretch from 11-13 doomed him.

Though he didn’t play those holes particularly well from tee to green, it was his poor putting that was alarming because one thing Woods had been doing well from Torrey Pines to Thursday was saving himself with some sound putting and a sharp short game.

Among the 36-hole leaders in the clubhouse when play was suspended due to darkness was a local kid named Patrick Cantlay, a native of nearby Long Beach who played his college golf at UCLA. Cantlay used to play college matches at Riviera.

Through two rounds, Cantlay was 7-under after shooting a 2-under 69 Friday following his opening-round 66.

“I feel really comfortable on this golf course, and it’s always nice to be in California,” he said. “I feel right at home. I’m looking forward to the weekend.’’

Asked if he has dreamed of winning at Riviera, Cantlay said: “I dreamt of winning everywhere. I know the golf course really well, and being here in front of the home fans and being here on a golf course that I really know and really like is huge. I feel really comfortable, and I’m just enjoying it.”

Graeme McDowell also was in the clubhouse at 7-under.

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