Tiger Woods' final-hole birdie might allow him to make the cut at Riviera

PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. — Needing birdie his final hole of the second round to have any chance of making the cut at the Genesis Open, Tiger Woods drained a 24-footer on a chilly but sunny Saturday morning at Riviera Country Club.

Now he’ll have to wait around to see if his second round even-par 71 and one-under total is good enough for two more rounds. When Woods finished, he was a stroke inside the cut line, but heavy rain, including more on Thursday night, and little wind have Riviera about as gettable as possible with much of the field still to finish the second round.

“You saw what I did last year, I missed the cut here and I had to add an event,” Woods said. “I get two more rounds to kind of get after it.”

He could use the extra work.

Much like his first start of the year, a few weeks ago at Torrey Pines, Woods has struggled with his putting. Through his first two rounds at Riviera, he was ranked 100th in the field in strokes gained-putting at the time he finished.

In the first round, Woods had a whopping 34 putts, including four three-putts. In the second round, he had seven fewer total putts but made just three from outside seven feet.

“I'm not feeling comfortable because I'm not seeing the line,” Woods said of his woes with the flat stick. “Consequently, I'm having a hard time starting my ball on line because I have a hard time seeing it. Hopefully I can find it here in the last couple rounds.

“Can't get any worse than it was the first day. Four three-putts is as bad as a human being can putt.”