HOYLAKE, England — Two holes and 20 minutes.
That’s all you needed to see Tiger Woods play in Friday’s British Open second round to understand the clouded and confused state of his game and his mind.
The tale of Tiger Woods, circa 2014, was told on the 17th and 18th holes at Royal Liverpool — ironically the site of one of his most remarkable career accomplishments.
Those two holes told the story of a player who is widely considered one of the greatest ever to play the game, yet whose career is now in a complete state of flux. Woods seems about as certain about what he’s going to get out of his game as the local forecasters are about the weather around here, which is to say: not so sure.
When Woods came to the 17th hole late Friday afternoon at even par, he was already some 10 shots off the lead Rory McIlroy was building. But he was two shots inside the cutline, having settled down to par 14 consecutive holes after a horrendous 3-over start on the first two, which included a double bogey at No. 1.
This is when Woods hit a driver so far off line to the right of the 17th fairway that it landed out of bounds. Out of bounds at Hoylake is very much in play on the third and 18th holes. Not on the 17th.
That Woods ruined his round and his chances of winning a fourth British Open and 15th major by going against the strategy he used eight years ago on this course en route to winning his third Claret Jug is indicative of how much he’s searching. He won at Hoylake in 2006 by hitting driver once in 72 holes.
Woods explained he hit driver more often Friday “to be a bit more aggressive’’ and take bunkers out of play, leaving himself wedges into the greens of some par-4s. That strategy backfired as badly as his 2006 strategy prospered.
After making the detestable “walk of shame’’ back to the 17th tee to reload, Woods hit his next drive 30 yards left of the fairway, looking like a 20 handicap in “overcorrect’’ mode.
The out-of-bounds penalty and subsequent scuffling left Woods with a triple bogey, making him 6-over-par for the round and — most importantly — 3-over for the tournament.
That left Woods needing a birdie or better on 18 to make cut at 2-over.
Suddenly, after Woods had settled down to make all those pars following the poor start, there was drama at the end of his day. And not the kind of drama he’d gotten used to creating en route to winning his 14 major championships.
If No. 17 provided the perfect display of the errant element to Woods’ game, what transpired on No. 18 was the pure guile and genius Woods used to be able to summon at the most crucial moments.
Woods piped his 3-wood tee shot into the fairway of the par-5 18th and hit his approach shot pin-high to the right of the green, with a pot bunker to negotiate on his chip to the green. He pitched it to within eight feet of the cup, setting the stage for one putt to make the cut.
Woods, like he always used to when he faced a must-make putt, calmly buried it. The only difference here is Woods used to can those to win tournaments, not survive Friday cuts.
So he’ll play the weekend. When he tees off Saturday morning for the third round, he’ll be 14 shots behind McIlroy.
“Hopefully,’’ Woods said, “I can play well on the weekend and at least give myself a shot at going to the back nine on Sunday.’’
To borrow an oft-used phrase from Bill Parcells: No disrespect intended, but don’t count on that happening.
After Woods finished speaking to reporters, he walked to a Mercedes courtesy car parked in front of the clubhouse, where his girlfriend, Lindsey Vonn, leaned against the door wearing a look of equal parts relief and exhaustion from what she’d seen on the last two holes.
Woods joined her in the back seat and they were driven away. He’ll be back Saturday, and no one, beginning with Woods, will know what to expect out of his game.