If Tiger Woods plans on contending at the 2013 PGA Championship it's going to take one of the best rounds of his life on Day 3 at Oak Hill Country Club.
The 14-time major winner shot at even par 70 on Day 2 to improve upon his Day 1 score by one stroke. But it wasn't enough to make his presence felt on the leaderboard, and he lies 10 shots off the lead.
Rains have made the course conditions ideal for low scores and the rest of the field has capitalized.
Unlike the U.S. and British Opens, where sticking around par meant contending, its going to take a score well below par to hoist the Wanamaker on Sunday.
Unfortunately for Tiger, those scores seem to be evading him on the course.
Tiger simply can't catch a break so far and there's one aspect of his game to blame—putting. The world's No. 1 has struggled mightily on the greens and it has cost him. As Robert Lusetich tweeted, he needed 32 putts on Friday.
That's literally half of the total strokes that Jason Dufner needed on Day 2.
Even when Tiger sets himself up for good scores he is throwing away opportunities by disappointing on the green. His par on No. 14 was the perfect example of the struggles he's had, per Jason Sobel of the Golf Channel.
As CBS Sports tweeted, he even came close to missing a three-inch putt at one point.
So what does this all mean for Day 3?
It means he needs a miracle, and he doesn't appear to be mentally prepared to pull that off right now. Tiger may be known for his ability to make adjustments mid-tournament, but his problems with the putter don't appear to be mechanical.
He appears to be rattled.
With a seemingly insurmountable gap between himself and the top of the leaderboard, and plenty of other players having no issues with the greens at Oak Hill, he's going to need to turn things around rather quickly.
But the crystal ball says that he shoots another round at even par. Unless he can find a rhythm with the putter, that's about the best that he can hope for.
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