Woods ‘hot’ after poor finish

Tiger Woods dropped shots on each of his last two holes

Tiger Woods struggled to contain his frustration after a poor finish to his second round left him seven shots adrift of early halfway leader Justin Rose at the US Open.

Woods made a confident start in cool and damp conditions early on day two at Pebble Beach as he birdied he second hole of the day, and he held firm at two under for the tournament with 14 consecutive pars before a bogey-bogey finish left him “a little hot” when he signed for a 72.

Woods slipped to level par and seven off the lead

The three-time champion pushed his second to the tough eighth and, after chipping to 15 feet, he missed the putt for par before he also failed to get up and down from the greenside rough at the ninth after pulling his approach.

“Not a very good finish,” was his blunt assessment of his round. “I’m a little hot right now. I just signed my card about a minute ago, so need a little time to cool down a little bit.

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“I had a couple of opportunities there and I missed a couple, but overall I kept leaving myself above the hole. And unlike yesterday, when I missed it I missed the correct spots below the hole, today I never had that many looks from below the hole. And the one I did have, I made at 11.”

Despite his disappointment, Woods is safely through to the weekend and feels he is still very much in contention, although he expects the USGA to produce a far more punishing test when they set up the course for the final two rounds.

Woods could not build on an early birdie on day two

“Right now I’m still in the ball game,” he added. “There are so many guys with a chance to win. We’ve got a long way to go, and, you know, we’ll see how it shapes up for tomorrow.

“The golf course can be a little bit faster, a little bit more springy than it was today, and scores will continue to back up a little bit.

Woods still feels he is in the tournament heading into the weekend

“They’ve got it right where they want it, it’s just a matter of how much will it dry out from morning to afternoon. The fairways were a bit slow and soft, and I don’t think they put mowers on them this morning.

“And the short areas, the run-ups, man – they’re firm. So if they get the greens anywhere like that, it will be a hell of a test.”