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PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — It looked dicey for the last hour of his round, but Tiger Woods barely made the cut Friday at the Honda Classic at PGA National. Woods finished right on the cut line at even par entering the weekend — nine shots out of the lead held by PGA Tour rookie Luke Guthrie, who shot a tournament-low 63 yesterday.
On a day when Rory McIlroy, the No. 1 player in the world, withdrew under questionable circumstances while playing horribly, Woods fell to the wrong side of the cut line at 1-over when he took a double bogey on the 13th hole.
He quickly fought back, carding a birdie on 14 and then saving par from bunkers on Nos. 17 and 18.
Woods, who has shot a pair of 70s, enters the weekend tied for 65th with a lot of players to overcome if he’s going to win his second tournament of the year.
“I’ve got to get something going,’’ Woods said. “There’s 70”‘-plus guys within nine shots of the lead. It’s pretty bunched. Anybody in this tournament can win it. So hopefully [Saturday] I can get it going, at least give myself a chance going into [Sunday].’’
Woods, reacting to McIlroy’s withdrawal, said he had no idea how McIlroy is feeling, but understands the scrutiny he is under as the No. 1 player in the world.
Asked if he has had a “welcome-to-my-world’’ conversation with McIlroy, Woods said, “I’ve been through it for a long time, but also this is a slightly different era, as well. It’s even faster than what it was when I came out. Things are instantaneous around the world. We were still in fax machines. Things were a little bit slower.
“You’ve just got to think about it a little bit more before you say something or do something. It can get out of hand, especially when you get into social media and start tweeting and all those different things that can go wrong — jokingly saying something doesn’t always come off as saying that, even though the intent was different.’’
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Guthrie, the tournament leader, is nine months removed from playing in the Big Ten championship as a member of the University of Illinois golf team. Today he’ll play in the final group.
“I’m pumped for it,’’ he said. “I can’t wait for that. I like playing in front of people, making birdies, they can kind of get you going, get the momentum rolling.’’
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Camilo Villegas, who led the tournament at 6-under after his opening-round 64, shot a 7-over 77 Friday and missed the cut by one shot at 1-over. … There are some prominent players lurking behind some of the lesser-knowns on the leaderboard, including Lee Westwood, Geoff Ogilvy and Justin Rose (all 6-under, three shots back). Graeme McDowell is 5-under.