After making consecutive bogeys to finish out his second round Saturday morning, five-time Masters champion Tiger Woods didn't know right away if his consecutive cut streak would continue to 23.
Thankfully, for Woods, he is in for the weekend by the skin of his teeth to the delight of the patrons here at Augusta National. It means the great five-time Green Jacket winner has now tied the Masters record set by Fred Couples and Gary Player.
"I've always loved this golf course, and I love playing this event," Woods said after finishing up on Saturday morning, not knowing if he was going to be in for the last two rounds.
"Obviously I've missed a couple with some injuries, but I've always wanted to play here. I've loved it. I hope I get a chance to play this weekend. I'm sorry. I got a chance to play on the weekend. I wish I get a chance to play two more rounds."
The 47-year-old whose 15th Major came here in 2019, was in a tie for 51st when his round concluded and needed to wait until the conclusion of the round for the remaining of the players on the course to find out if he would continue playing into the third round of Saturday.
After making 11 pars on Friday, culminated by converting a seven-footer for par on the 11th, Woods resumed his round at 8 a.m. local time Saturday at 2-over-par. In a light rain, it would come down harder a couple holes later, Woods' first shot on the par-3 12th was a beauty, right over the flagstick, about eight feet past the hole. He missed the putt, settling for par. Then he parred 13 and 14 to remain at 2-over par.
Huge birdie for Tiger Woods on 15 gets him to one-over and inside the cut mark #themasters pic.twitter.com/N3CglMF48QApril 8, 2023
Things were looking even better after Woods finally made a birdie. That came on the 15th, when after his third shot hit the flag and spun back, he holed a beautiful right-to-lefter up the hill. He then managed a great two-putt from the front of the green to the pin back right on the par-3 16th to keep it going, but things unraveled after that.
On both 17 and 18 Woods hit his tee shot into the trees, right on 17 and left on 18. He couldn't reach either green in two and failed to get up and down both times. On the 18th, he could only chip out and left himself a long putt after he wedged to the front of the green.
"I hit it right off the heel," he said of his poor final tee shot. "I was just trying to hit some kind of low cut out there, and I hit it right off the neck."
He gave his par chance a good run, but came up just a few inches from the hole and tapped in for bogey to shoot 73, one over par.
