Tiger Woods makes the cut at The Masters

CNN
 — 

It remained in the balance for much of the morning as to whether Tiger Woods would make the cut at The Masters but after a nervy wait the five-time champion made it through to the third and fourth rounds in Augusta.

In his 25th appearance at the prestigious major, Woods equaled Gary Player and Fred Couples’ record of making 23 consecutive cuts at The Masters.

The 47-year-old, who had earlier in the week suggested that this could be his final appearance at the tournament, finished his delayed second round with a one-over 73.

As the rain poured down at Augusta National, Woods bogeyed the 17th and 18th holes to go three-over par for the tournament, which meant he needed others to drop shots for him to make the cut.

The weather made consistency difficult for the players on the course which, to an extent, worked in Woods’ favor as Justin Thomas shot a bogey on the 17th to move the projected cut to three over.

Thomas endured an awful back nine, dropping six shots, in a round that consisted of six bogeys, a double bogey and a birdie, which meant the PGA champion missed the cut.

Woods had completed 11 holes of his second round on Friday and was two-over par, then the projected cut, when play was suspended for the day due to bad weather.

He remained at two over until the final hole of the round, hitting two birdies and three bogeys in an improved performance on his first-round 74.

Brooks Koepka, who finished his second round before the bad weather ended the play early on Friday, remained in the lead on 12 under after the completion of the second round, though world No. 3 Jon Rahm reduced his advantage to two shots.

Resuming on nine under on the 10th hole, Rahm carded a three-under 69, hitting five birdies and two bogeys in gloomy conditions.

As expected after an awful two days, world No. 2 Rory McIlroy missed the cut, finishing five over for the tournament.

The third round has already begun. Woods is set to tee off at 1.06 p.m E.T and playing so many holes on the same day – if the weather holds out – will be a real test for the 15-time major champion.

His competitive appearances have been sporadic since he suffered severe leg injuries in a serious car crash in 2021 and after his opening round on Thursday he said he was in “constant” pain on the hilly Augusta course.