One day after shooting his best round of the year, Tiger Woods followed it up with a disappointing 70 Friday at the BMW Championship.
Woods made three birdies in the middle of his round, keeping himself well in contention to win for the first time in more than five years, but he finished with back-to-back bogeys to retreat from the top of the leaderboard. He now sits at eight under for the championship. Woods will tee off Saturday chasing Xander Schauffele, among others, who stands out front at 13 under.
The 42-year-old began his round with zero pars on his first four holes. Missing a 4-foot putt on the 5th hole led to a bogey that dropped him back to seven under. That was Woods’s final bogey before the last two holes, though. He’d make short birdies on nos. 9 and 11 before two-putting for birdie on the par-5 16th.
A stroke of bad luck.@TigerWoods saves birdie from a divot.#QuickHits pic.twitter.com/qO9CUwQGGg
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) September 7, 2018
After a poor approach into the 17th left Woods in the bunker, he missed his 7-foot par putt. Woods found the fairway, hit the green and three-putted for bogey on the 18th. Woods’s overarching problem Friday was his putter. After ranking 6th in the field in Strokes Gained: Putting Thursday, Woods made just 31 feet of putts Friday.
There will be good days and bad days with the flatstick for all pros, but few putters are going through as much speculation as the Scotty Cameron that Woods carries around in his bag. Stay tuned to his performance throughout the weekend to see if he regains form.
