Farmers Insurance 2018: Tiger Woods’ tee time, plus full pairings for Saturday

It happened! Tiger Woods made the weekend at a PGA Tour event! It’s been almost 900 days since we could say that, but Tiger is back and will get two more rounds at Torrey Pines’ South Course.

Woods did not make it easy, needing a birdie on his very last hole of the day to make the cut on the number. And after another wild drive into the thick junk that surrounds these narrow Torrey fairways, he was able to muscle one just over a bunker and onto the green. Granted, the ball was way the hell on the other side of the green opposite the flag, but he was on in two and needed just two putts for a birdie and jumped onto the safe side of the cut line.

Tiger hit a perfect lag putt that made it academic, leaving just a few feet to clean up his birdie. As soon as he tapped it in, there was an exhale of relief and a sense of happy triumphalism. I had feelings about the whole scene. It’s far from a notable accomplishment in a career that’s one of the two best of all time. But come on, it’s been so long and all day it kind of felt inevitable that he was going to slog his way to a number that left him two or three shots short of playing the weekend.

The last time Tiger made it to the weekend at Torrey Pines, his stay was not long. In 2014, Tiger posted a “missed cut-did not finish” result, the first of his career. That year, a secondary cut was needed thanks to the bloated field that made the initial cut at the top 70 and ties threshold on Friday night. Tiger played Saturday and posted a 79, which, at the time, tied the second highest round of his career. It featured a seven-hole stretch that he played in 9-over. He was trunk-slamming on Saturday night and did not make it to see Sunday’s final round.

That MC-DNF result is not an option this weekend, as the group that made the cut is a manageable size and there will be no secondary cut. So we’re guaranteed to get at least 36 more holes of Tiger at Torrey South, a place he owned in his career up until 2013. It’s exactly what he needed — more reps on a course that’s tough but familiar, and the confidence boost in actually getting there in his first start in a year.

Tiger will be going off No. 10 on Saturday, where the Tour will send them out in groups of three and using split tees. That condenses the field down to a two-hour window with everyone on the course at the same time. With Tiger just barely sneaking in, he’s bumped to a back nine start and will be out with Sung Kang and a familiar face in Brandt Snedeker.

Here’s your full tee sheet for the third round of the Farmers Insurance Open (all times ET).