Tiger Woods finishes close to dead last at British Open

TROON, Scotland — Tiger Woods is going home early again.

The 48-year-old Woods on Friday missed his third consecutive cut in a major championship this season when he departed the 152nd British Open at Royal Troon in 14-over par.

That had him 10 shots off the cut line at the time and in 148th place among the 154 players in the field.

“Well, it wasn’t very good,’’ Woods said of his second-round 6-over-par 77 that followed Thursday’s 79.

“I made a double there at (No.) 2 right out of the hopper when I needed to go the other way. I just was fighting it pretty much all day. I never really hit it close enough to make birdies and consequently made a lot of bogeys.’’

Woods, with his fused spine and right leg and ankle issues, finds himself playing in almost only major championships and constantly far from contention.

“I’d like to have played more, but I just wanted to make sure that I was able to play the major championships this year,’’ he said. “I got a lot of time off to get better, to be better physically, which has been the case all year. I’ve gotten better, even though my results really haven’t shown it, but physically I’ve gotten better, which is great.

“I just need to keep progressing like that and then eventually start playing more competitively and start getting into kind of the competitive flow again.’’

That should include adding a few more tournaments onto his schedule, yet Woods on Friday indicated he has no plans to do so.

“No, I’m not going to play until (December, when he and his son Charlie plan in a father-son event),’’ he said. “I’m going to just keep getting physically better and keep working on it.’’

Woods has played 39 rounds of golf since the 2021-22 season and shot just five rounds in the 60s.

In nine of the 10 rounds he played in the four major championships this year, Woods shot over par. The one round he wasn’t over par was an even-par round at the Masters.

Woods averaged 76 in his 10 major championship rounds.

“I’ve always loved playing major championships,’’ he said. “I just wish I was more physically sharp coming into the majors. Obviously, it tests you mentally, physically, emotionally, and I just wasn’t as sharp as I needed to be. I was hoping that I would find it somehow, just never did. Consequently, my results and scores were pretty high.’’