Woods misses cut and heads home

Tiger Woods plunged new depths at the PGA Championship on Friday when he missed the cut in the year's final major for the first time.

Woods, who has been a shadow of his former self while battling injuries and trying to rebuild his golf swing, struggled to a three-over-par 73 for a 10-over total of 150.

Woods was again erratic - he bogeyed the fifth and seventh before birdying the next two holes ahead of the turn.

Then he double bogeyed the 11th and 12th - two holes where he had looked comfortable on Thursday - before recovering for birdies on the 13th and the tough 15th.

Woods had five double bogeys in a tournament for the first time.

The 14-times major winner, ended his round going from sand to water as he bogeyed the 18th and was left to reflect on two rounds where he found the traps far too often.

"I think I was in nearly 20 bunkers in two days and I had four or five water balls. So that's not going to add up to a very good score," said Woods.

"Today I hit the ball a lot better. I putted well the last two days and really felt great but I just never got to the green soon enough."

FOURTH MISS

Woods has previously missed the cut only three times in majors -- at the 1996 Masters as an amateur and as a professional at the 2006 U.S. Open and the 2009 British Open.

"I showed signs that I can hit the ball exactly how I know I can. And unfortunately I just didn't do it enough times," he said.

"The changes I'm making, I'm hitting the ball further, and that's something I have to adjust for. I have way more compression now than I ever had, so the ball is now coming off cleaner, faster, and I've got to get used to that," he added.

"Today was another example... a lot of my shots I missed were over the greens, over the flags, and (I'm) just not quite used to hitting the ball that far yet. I have to adjust those numbers," he said.

Woods insisted that despite his early exit he was boosted by being able to play without physical problems - after being sidelined for three months with leg injuries before last week's WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in Akron, Ohio.

"I think it's a step back in the sense that I didn't make the cut and I'm not contending in the tournament.

"But it's a giant leap forward in the fact that I played two straight weeks, healthy. That's great for our practice sessions coming up.

"We are going to be able now to work and get after it. I thought I could come in here and play the last couple of weeks and get it done somehow, but I need some work."

The result means that Woods will not qualify for the season-ending FedEx Cup and he said his plan remains to return for the Australian Open in November although he might consider playing in some of the Fall Series events.

For now though, his focus turns to working on his technique with swing coach Sean Foley.

"Now I'll have nothing to do but work on my game. That's going to be good. Sean and I haven't had the opportunity to really sit down and do a lot of work, so this will be our time."