Golf

Tiger Woods says he’s ‘certainly right in it’ at the British Open

Tiger Woods has made the cut at a major for just the third time in the last four years. He’s still in it with a chance to win, and that’s progress.

by Brendan Porath

Jul 21, 2018, 11:30 AM UTC

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Tiger has made the cut and that’s progress at the majors.

Photo by Harry How/Getty Images

Tiger Woods has yet to break par at the Open, but he finished Friday afternoon by telling the assembled press that he was “certainly right in it.”

He’s not wrong. Woods is even-par and six shots off the lead. That’s not much at the 36-hole mark. It might be too much at the 54-hole mark, but with two more rounds, including Saturday’s “moving day,” ahead of him, Tiger can absolutely close the gap and win a fourth Claret Jug.

Tiger will tee off at 8:15 a.m. ET, or 1:15 p.m. local in Scotland. That means his entire third round will fall within the NBC coverage window. After the first two marathon days fell on Golf Channel, their Comcast sister network jumps in for the conclusion of the two weekend rounds. Each day, NBC will be live at 7 a.m. and take us home until the finish around 3 p.m. ET. Dan Hicks and Johnny Miller will have the call at the finish.

Embrace the “baked out” life of The Open

Ian Rutherford-USA TODAY Sports

Like a blizzard game at Lambeau field, we’re getting the Open this week in some extreme conditions that make it feel and look the way it should be.

Expect Tiger’s every shot to be shown on Saturday unless something goes horribly awry. Tiger is playing well enough to contend. He’s playing conservative compared to some of the other big bombers in the game, but his even-par rounds could have, and probably should have, been better. He squandered chances at the par-5s on Thursday and struggled to capitalize on some more precise ballstriking in the second round. He’s played well enough to be on the first page of the leaderboard and is probably a little frustrated by that. Just clean up some mistakes and make a few putts — it sounds so easy! — and Tiger will come charging up the leaderboard.

The conditions on Saturday are supposed to be favorable so this may be his once chance to post a lower number. Tiger generally prefers harder conditions — wind, faster greens — when he’s trying to chase from behind. That’s against the conventional thought that you want something gettable to make a move. It sounds like those tougher winds are coming on Sunday, so the third round may be his opportunity to get onto that first page of the leaderboard without having to hope for help from the group ahead of him.

Tiger’s got a chance, and that’s all we want. This is only his third made cut since the start of 2015, and the other two came at the Masters (in 2015 and this April). So this is progress, if you can believe it or not. Here’s your media schedule at the British Open on Saturday: