‘Shut out.’ How Tiger Woods ‘missed them all’ in a bad week at Quail Hollow
Same story, different day for Tiger Woods on Sunday at the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow Club.
Woods again struggled with his putter during the final round of the tournament, posting a birdie-free 74. He finished with a 3-over par 286, tied for 55th. It was the 11th time in his career that Woods went without a birdie during a round.
“I got shut out,” Woods said of the absence of birdies in a round that included 15 pars and three bogeys. “The chances I did have, I missed them all. It was just a bad week, and good news is wipe your hands clean and go on to the next one.”
The next one is the Players Championship, where he will play Thursday and Friday with Phil Mickelson and Rickie Fowler.
“I do enjoy (playing with Mickelson) because we don’t get to do it very often,” Woods said. “We are normally paired up on the weekend if we are both playing well, and even that’s a rarity. We’ve been going at it for the better part of over 20 years and it’s fun for both of us to be able to do that. They want to have some star-studded pairings. You know, I think that it will be fun for all of us.”
Woods finished the tournament with minus-5.8 strokes gained by putting, which ranked 72nd in the field.
Three who mattered
Jason Day: His tee shot on No. 17, which hit the flagstick and rolled 3 feet away, will go down in tournament history.
Aaron Wise: A pretty good coming-out party for the 21-year-old, just two years removed from an NCAA championship at Oregon.
Phil Mickelson: Another “close, but” at Quail Hollow. He finished tied for fifth, his ninth career top-10 in Charlotte without a victory.
Worth mentioning
▪ First-round leader John Peterson wasn’t a factor after Thursday. He finished with an even-par 285, good enough for a 42nd-place finish. Where it gets interesting for Peterson is that he won $22,389 and picked up 10 FedExCup points. Heading into the Wells Fargo Championship, he needed to win at least $318,096 or gain 237 points over his three next starts to maintain his exempt status. Peterson is on a major medical exemption after undergoing hand surgery in January 2016. He said Thursday that he will be comfortable with the outcome, whichever way it falls for him. If he doesn’t stay on the PGA Tour, he’ll retire to his hometown of Fort Worth, Texas, and work in real-estate development.
▪ Peter Malnati, the second-round leader, had a weekend to forget. He went 75-74 on Saturday and Sunday, finishing par and tied for 34th for the tournament
▪ Gastonia’s Harold Varner III was tied for 55th with a 2-over 286, 14 behind winner Jason Day.
▪ Here’s how the tournament’s two Charlotte residents who also are Quail Hollow members fared: Johnson Wagner shot a 73 Sunday and tied for 13th, 4-under for the tournament and eight strokes behind Day. Webb Simpson tied for 21st after a 69 Sunday, 10 behind Day.
▪ Justin Thomas, the world’s second-ranked player entering the tournament and the 2017 PGA Championship winner at Quail Hollow, never contended. He finished tied for 21st at 2-under and made a 42-foot putt on the 18th hole Sunday for a birdie.
This story was originally published May 6, 2018 at 4:34 PM with the headline "‘Shut out.’ How Tiger Woods ‘missed them all’ in a bad week at Quail Hollow."