Tiger Woods makes cut at PGA Championship as Will Zalatoris leads
- Biggest crowds follow 15-time major winner Woods, who suffered severe leg injuries in a car crash last year
- Bubba Watson matches course record with a 63 including 9 birdies, his most in any major round, while 18-hole leader Rory McIlroy shares fifth
Aided when gusting winds vanished in the afternoon at daunting Southern Hills, late starter Zalatoris reeled off three back-nine birdies in a row and sank a seven-foot birdie putt at the 17th to finish 36 holes at Southern Hills on nine-under-par 131.
“I had the luck of the draw. There wasn’t any wind after the 11th hole,” Zalatoris said. “I made the most of it with some good shotmaking.”
That enabled 30th-ranked Zalatoris, last year’s Masters runner-up and the 2021 US PGA Tour Rookie of the Year, to grab a one-stroke lead over Chile’s Mito Pereira, who fired a 64 to stand second on 132.
“I guess shooting six-under wasn’t really the expectation, but here we are,” the 27-year-old from Santiago said. “Not going to change anything.”
Woods, fighting back after severe leg injuries in a car crash 15 months ago, overcame a double bogey at the par-three 11th with birdies at the par-five 13th and par-four 16th to shoot 69 and make the weekend on three-over 143.
“I had to grind and go to work and I did and I made it,” Woods said. “It wasn’t pretty. I had to fight back. I’m not able to move like I did.”
