Tiger survives on cut line; Rickie, Phil miss Players weekend

The marquee and so-called “super group” continued to fizzle at The Players Championship on Friday, with Tiger Woods finishing his second round on the cut line at 1-under par overall while Rickie Fowler and Phil Mickelson left themselves no chance to reach the weekend.

Woods shot a 1-under 71 on Friday and was tied for 63rd when he tapped in for par on No. 9, his final hole of the day after beginning on the back nine. He finished tied with 12 others for 68th, with the cut line holding at 1 under for the tournament.

Woods was more consistent off the tee than in his opening round, but was unable to capitalize frequently, carding a pair of birdies against a lone bogey and going only a combined 1-under on the four reachable par 5s at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. He’ll enter Saturday 14 strokes behind leader Webb Simpson, who carries a five-stroke lead after shooting a 9-under 63 on Friday, which tied the course record.

Fowler and Mickelson didn’t have to wait around to see if they would reach the weekend before booking early trips home.

Mickelson began the day with little hope of making the cut after shooting a 7-over 79 on Thursday. Admittedly dealing with some fatigue after the Wells Fargo Championship last week, Mickelson posted a typically sporadic scorecard that included six birdies, five bogeys, one double bogey and only six pars. Mickelson finished in a tie for 134th place at 8 over, ahead of only seven other players in the field.

Fowler’s plummet well below the cut line was far more jarring. He was cruising along at 3 under with birdies on Nos. 4 and 5 when, on the sixth hole, his ball landed in a palm tree and never came out. He was even seen using binoculars trying to locate it.

That resulted in the first of two consecutive double bogeys that sank Fowler into a tie for 87th at 1-over par when the 2015 Players champion walked off the course. It proved to be two shots too many for Fowler, ending the tournament early for the world’s sixth-ranked player in a tie for 89th.

Joining Woods by advancing to the weekend directly on the cut line were top-five players Justin Thomas (second) and Jordan Spieth (fourth).

Eighth-ranked Rory McIlroy (1 over) and ninth-ranked Hideki Matsuyama (4 over) joined Fowler as top-10 players who were cut.

–Field Level Media