Tiger sent packing

JOHNS CREEK, Ga. - Hardly anyone knows the two guys leading the PGA Championship.

No one even recognized Tiger Woods.

Once identified by either his No. 1 ranking or his 14 majors, Woods missed the cut yesterday at Atlanta Athletic Club with a performance that was even more shocking because of the numbers he compiled.

He hit into 22 bunkers. He put four balls in the water. His five double bogeys were the most he ever made in one tournament.

With one final bogey for a 3-over-par 73, Woods finished out of the top 100 for the first time ever in a major. He was 15 shots behind Jason Dufner, who has never won a PGA Tour event, and Keegan Bradley, playing in his first major.

"I got some time off again," said Woods, who doesn't expect to tee it up again until the Australian Open in November.

Based on the last 2 days, he has a lot of work to do.

Dufner, who hasn't made a cut since the last week in May, holed a 25-foot eagle putt on the fifth hole and threw in five birdies for a 5-under 65 that put him atop the leaderboard for the first time in a major. Bradley, a tour rookie and the nephew of LPGA great Pat Bradley, did even better with a bogey-free round of 64.

They played a game with which Woods is no longer familiar.

Even as Steve Stricker followed up his record-tying 63 with a 74, and as Rory McIlroy made it through another round with a heavily taped right wrist, Woods captivated the crowd on another steamy day in Atlanta. There were times the fans wanted to cover their eyes.

Woods blasted out of a bunker and went into the pond on the other side of the green for a double bogey. On his next hole, he hooked his drive into the trees, chipped out sideways, then hit a snap-hook back into the trees for another double bogey.

Woods failed to qualifying for the FedEx Cup playoffs, which he has won two of the last 4 years, meaning he is ineligible for any PGA Tour event for the next 6 weeks.

"It's a step back in the sense I didn't make the cut," Woods said. "But it's a giant leap forward in that I played 2 straight weeks and I'm healthy. It's going to be great for my practice sessions coming up. Now I'll be able to work and get after it."

Meanwhile, two-time U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen withdrew with an injury that he did not disclose and J.B. Holmes (illness) and Rocco Mediate (arm injury) also withdrew before the second round.