British Open: Tiger Woods ends major season on a low note at Royal Portrush

Tiger Woods gave it everything he had, but it simply wasn’t enough to make a dent at the 148th British Open Championship.

Tiger Woods is heading home early from yet another major championship, as he will officially miss the cut at the 2019 British Open at Royal Portrush.

It’s hard to imagine that this might be the new reality for Woods, who captivated the world a year ago, taking the lead – however briefly – at Carnoustie on Sunday afternoon. He’ll watch this weekend’s action from home, where he might even skip the upcoming WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational.

After Thursday’s brutal opener, in which Woods shot 7-over 78, we knew it would take a minor miracle for him to even make the cut, but it was tough to watch the Masters champion struggling to get his body to cooperate in the typically miserable British Open weather.

His play was obviously improved from Thursday, as he posted four birdies and three bogeys on route to a one-under round of 70. Unfortunately, as the leaders continued to go low (Shane Lowry is on the course at -10, J.B. Holmes in the clubhouse at -8 at the time of this writing), it was never going to be enough.

In a way, although I know that Tiger Woods woke up this morning with a number in mind, it felt like more of a formality than anything else. Once he posted bogey on the par-5 7th, it was basically over.

"“I kind of grinded my way around the golf course today,” Woods told media after his round. “I had a chance to get it back to even par for the tournament. I didn’t handle the par-5s well. I was in perfect condition all three of them, if I handled those par 5s well I would be right there.”"

That’s even tougher to stomach when you consider that destroying par-5s has been one of Tiger’s defining characteristics for essentially his entire career. Sure, he’s not the longest guy on Tour anymore, but he’s plenty long – and plenty solid with irons and putters, most weeks – to handle that challenge.

If we’re being honest with ourselves, we knew this was going to be an all-or-nothing type of week for Tiger. If he felt loose and got off to a good start, things could have been significantly different. But anybody could get tight in these cool, wet conditions, even if they didn’t have a surgically-repaired…well, pretty much everything.

More from British Open News

• Max Homa Reaches Turning Point in Majors
• 2023 Open Championship: The Real Winners And Losers At Hoylake
• Assessing Brian Harman’s Open Championship victory
• ‘You Don’t Have The Stones For This’ – Harman Motivated By Hecklers
• Watch Brian Harman Receive The Claret Jug at Royal Liverpool

If there’s one bit of good news to take away from an otherwise difficult week at Royal Portrush, it’s that Tiger doesn’t seem to be injured, he’s just sore and tired, as many 43-year-old players who hadn’t played in a month would be. He’s already talking about making a move in the FedEx Cup Playoffs, reminding media that he almost won the whole thing last year.

"“I’m going to take a couple of weeks off and get ready for the playoffs. We’ve got the playoffs coming up, and anything can happen. Last year I almost stole the whole FedExCup at the very end. If it wasn’t for Rosie’s little break there at the bunker, it could have been interesting. So get ready for those events. And after that then have a break.”"

That last break he’s talking about is going to be the gap between August 25th, the end of the TOUR Championship, and the second week of December, where Woods will captain the American team, with a chance still to play on his own team.

He’s currently 12th in the automatic qualifying race, but he could still make a run in the Playoffs to get into the top eight, or potentially name himself as a captain’s pick. Think about how fun that would be for a minute.

With the 2019 major championship season over for Tiger, I’d still rank the year a massive success, despite the fact that he was far from competitive in three of the four majors. Winning the Masters was such an iconic moment, proof to the world and to himself that he can still win the biggest events, that it will be remembered far more than his struggles that continued at the British Open.

This year was a different type of challenge for Tiger Woods, but he knew he had to change his approach to stay healthy all year. We’ll see what changes are in store over the coming months, but for now, the countdown is on.

Only nine months to go until the 2020 Masters Tournament.