The Players Championship: Tiger Woods scrapes through Sawgrass, likely to make cut

It was déjà vu all over again for Tiger Woods at TPC Sawgrass on Friday, as the two-time Players champion followed up his roller-coaster opening round with another up-and-down effort that had him flirting with the cut line much of the day.

Woods, who appears to have put the chipping yips well behind him in his second start since a two-month layoff, can’t seem to find any consistency off the tee and with some of his long irons. Should he miss his first cut in 16 starts at The Players (he ended his second round at 1-under 71 and even-par for the week, right on the projected cut line), he can blame a case of the lefts.

Question marks surrounded Woods’ first start since a T17 finish at the Masters and adding some “fresh,” consultant Chris Como-inspired swing changes to his repertoire. He answered some of them, as he continued to show flashes of the Tiger of old as well and sometimes look like an old Tiger.

Exhibit A: a terrific wedge shot on the par-5 11th (Woods’ second hole of the day) and a kick-in birdie.

Exhibit B and C: back-to-back bogeys following his short-game wizardry, the first one following one of his now-patented pull hooks that buried his ball in the pine straw, and the second a whiffed stroke on the 181-yard par-3 13th that was 65 feet shy of the putting surface.

Both Tigers were on display on the par-4 18th, where — unlike Thursday when he drove his ball into the lake — on Friday he found the fairway. The lefts struck again on his approach shot and, instead of going for birdie, he had to grind it out just to make par.

Woods made the turn at 1-under 35 and took his erratic swing with him, as his tee shot went — yep — left again and traveled some 170 yards.

All seemed well in Tiger’s world when he absolutely ripped his tee shot on the par-4 fifth. That bullet led to a no-doubt 25-footer that split the cup for a birdie that brought him back to even-par and inside the cut line.

But, wait. Woods had more drama in store.

On the next hole, Tiger uncharacteristically lost his tee shot on the seventh hole into the right rough. Overhanging limbs of a large tree forced a layup that left a dicey downhill lie in deep rough above a green-side bunker.

With blade wide open and right knee bent at an awkward angle, Woods, from an extremely tricky lie, made a Tiger-esque stroke that had to be his shot of the day.

Unfortunately for his chances of getting to the weekend in Ponte Vedra, Woods missed the par putt and dropped back to 1-over.

And then came the par-3 eighth, where Woods had memories of that fanned 4-iron a day earlier. No problem on Friday, as Tiger was safely aboard and two-putted for par, though he likely needed a birdie on No. 9 to get to the weekend. Asked and answered, as Woods calmly rolled in a nine-footer for a four and a likely tee time on Saturday.

The fist pump at the end pretty much says it all.

★★★

SB Nation presents: Tiger Woods and Lindsey Vonn could never last