The Open 2019: Tiger Woods misses cut to exit final major of the year

Tiger Woods scored a second round of one-under-par, but it was not enough to take him through to the weekend as he missed the halfway cut to exit the 2019 Open Championship.

The 15-time major winner left far too much work to do after Thursday's seven-over-par round of 78 left him way down the leaderboard, leaving it highly unlikely that he would add to his Open triumphs in 2000, 2005 and 2006.

But a strong start to his second round at Royal Portrush did ignite hopes that the unthinkable could happen, with the 43-year-old recording birdies at the first and fifth holes to move him in the right direction.

However, the 2019 Masters champion immediately gave a shot back at the seventh and was unable to eat into the gap to the projected cut any further by the turn, leaving him with a lot of work to do on the back nine if he were to extend his stay in Northern Ireland this weekend.

With the projected cut at one-over-par, Woods needed to aim for four birdies on the back nine and for Lady Luck to shine on him. He made the perfect start once again, with back-to-back birdies at 10 and 11 moving him to three-over-par and within two shots of the expected cut-line with seven holes to play, but a procession of pars ended with a bogey at 17 that all but ended his challenge at the 148th Open Championship.

To sum up his week, the American bowed out with a bogey on 18 to sign off a one-under-par round of 70, leaving him six-over for the tournament and ruing a Thursday afternoon round where he struggled with back stiffness in the cold and wet conditions.

While the cut does not take place until the end of the second round's play, only the top 70 plus ties go through to the final two days, with Woods ending his round in a tie for 132nd place.

Great rival Phil Mickelson is also in danger of missing the cut and if he does it would be the first time in the 83 majors in which they have both competed that both missed the weekend.