Tiger Woods has just missed out on making the cut at the 2024 US Open while Rory McIlroy has kept himself in contention of winning his first major in 10 years.
Woods came into this year’s US Open with optimism on where his game and physical fitness was at.
And he momentarily put himself top of the leaderboard on Thursday after dropping a birdie on his very first hole.
But some costly errors with his irons later in the round saw Woods finish four-over-par and leave him with plenty of work to do on Friday.
Tiger Woods missed the cut by two shots
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The 15-time major champion was in the afternoon tee time groups and it soon became clear that scoring on Friday was proving even more difficult than the first round.
More players were shooting over par, raising the projected cut line in a boost to Woods.
The cut line hovered around five-over par throughout the day and Woods appeared to put himself in a strong position with a birdie at the fourth.
However, that was immediately followed by a disappointing bogey at the par-five fifth.
The tricky conditions at Pinehurst No 2 even punished good shots throughout the day and Woods found that out on the ninth when he tee shot landed on the green before it shot off into the native area leaving a tricky chip back up the slope.
He needed two shots to get back on the green before putting in for another bogey to put him five-over-par for the tournament.
Another missed green on the 12th ultimately proved costly for Woods again though as he three-putted to leave him one-over the cut line.
He was scrambling for opportunities in the final holes and his best came on the par-three 15th when he left himself 15 feet for birdie.
Tiger Woods made too many costly errors
GETTY
Woods was left with his hands on his knees after seeing his putt lip out, leaving him three holes to get back under the cut line.
But his putter let him down once again on the very next hole with a complete misread that clearly left him incensed.
Woods marked his ball before chucking it towards his caddie in a telling gesture.
A bogey followed that ultimately cost Woods any chance of making it to the weekend.
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Rory McIlroy is in contention to win
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On the other side of the leaderboard, Bryson DeChambeau and Thomas Detry carded impressive rounds of 69 and 67 to put them four-under-par for the tournament from the morning groups.
McIlroy was unable to match the levels of his opening round of 65, but managed to stop the rot on a tricky day to leave him three-under-par for the tournament.
Ludvig Aberg, Patrick Cantlay and Matthieu Pavon held the top positions of the leaderboard heading into their final few holes.