World number one Tiger Woods didn’t just miss the cut in the Quail Hollow Championship by adding a 79 to his opening 74 - he positively imploded. He’s certainly no robot. There were no nuts and bolts all over North Carolina, just a shattered human being who finally hit the wall.

Woods missed just the sixth cut of a 14-year professional career when his game shuddered to a halt after an opening birdie and then completely fell apart on the back nine as he came home in seven over in the most alarmingly fashion. He’s had bad days before but what was surprising was the way he appeared to simply throw in the towel when it became obvious that surviving for the weekend with a broken swing was mission impossible.

You could never imagine Padraig Harrington, the ultimate grinder, losing the will to fight the way Woods did on Friday. The Dubliner says he’s close to finding his best stuff and he painted a vivid picture of the current state of his game with a second successive 72 in which he sprinkled an eagle and three birdies between nine pars and five bogeys.

Harrington is eight shots behind leader Billy Mayfair (68), who leads by a  single stroke on eight under from Angel Cabrera, who played in the same group as Woods and outscored him by 12 shots with a second round 67.

As for Rory McIlroy, who showed just why Woods and others tipped him as a possible successor when he spectacularly eagled his 16th hole (the par five seventh) to avoid missing his third cut on the spin. 

Disheartened by his early season form, McIlroy needs only the faintest spark of brilliance to reignite the fire of confidence and having slipped outside the cut line with bogeys at the fifth and sixth his (14th and 15th), the world No 13 produce the kind of shot that leaves his caddie JP Fitzgerald open-mouthed from time to time.

It might be the second easiest hole on the course but McIlroy still had the skill and the guts to follow a 304 yard tee shot with an impressive 208 yard approach to six and a half feet. He holed the eagle putt and parred in for a 73 to make it on the mark. 

Just nine shots separate leader Mayfair from the 30 players who are log-jammed in a share of 48th and last place on one-over.

Woods didn’t even come close to surviving as he finished on nine over par in only his second event since taking a break from the sport. What will happen in the Players at Sawgrass next week is anyone’s guess.

According to Doug Ferguson of the Associated Press, Woods had only missed five cuts in 240 starts as a professional prior to this event. 

He had three-putt bogeys on consecutive holes. He hit a flop shot that ran over the green and into the water. And he bottomed out on the 15th green with a four-putt double bogey from just over 30 feet.

“It is what it is,” Woods said when asked if rust or mechanics were the culprit. “Whatever it was, it wasn’t good enough.”

 

Woods said: “I didn’t play well, and more importantly my short game wasn’t very good. I chipped poorly, putted poorly, but for the most part I didn’t really hit the ball that poorly until the end when it was already pretty much out of reach.”

Asked if it bothered him that he had missed the cut, Woods added: “It does bother me, no doubt. But at least I get the weekend to watch and see how it’s done, how real players play golf, and hopefully I can piece it together for next week and be ready to go.”

His last early exit came in the Open at Turnberry last year. Before that it was the 2006 US Open shortly after the death of his father Earl.

Woods’ last missed cut in a non-major was at the 2005 Children’s Miracle Network Classic at Walt Disney World.

Any faint chances of avoiding a sixth missed cut disappeared on the 14th when he ran up a double-bogey six, missing the green and then pitching into the water.

And another double bogey on the next had the American in danger of surpassing his worst score as a professional - he shot 81 in horrendous conditions in the third round of the Open at Muirfield in 2002.

At the other end of the leaderboard, Billy Mayfair leads the way at eight under after another round of 68, with last year’s Masters winner Angel Cabrera one shot back after a round of 67.

JP Hayes shot the best round of the day with a 64 to take him into a share of third place alongside, among others, new Masters champion Phil Mickelson.

Collated second-round scores (USA unless stated, par 72):

136 Billy Mayfair 68 68

137 Angel Cabrera (Arg) 70 67

138 Phil Mickelson 70 68, Dustin Johnson 73 65, Paul Goydos 68 70, J.P. Hayes 74 64

139 J J Henry 68 71, Camilo Villegas (Col) 67 72

140 Jim Furyk 75 65, Garth Mulroy (Rsa) 69 71, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 68 72, Tom Gillis 71 69, Kevin Sutherland 72 68

141 Nick Watney 70 71, Davis Love III 70 71, Greg Chalmers (Aus) 70 71, Ricky Barnes 69 72, Kevin Na 72 69, Anthony Kim 72 69, Bill Haas 71 70, Robert Allenby (Aus) 71 70, Bo Van Pelt 65 76

142 Hunter Mahan 71 71, Chad Campbell 72 70, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 74 68, John Merrick 72 70, Lucas Glover 71 71, Joe Ogilvie 73 69

143 Brendon De Jonge 70 73, Bubba Watson 70 73, Heath Slocum 69 74, Brad Faxon 68 75, Jarrod Lyle (Aus) 71 72, Chris Tidland 72 71, Carlos Franco (Par) 72 71, Rickie Fowler 73 70, Johnson Wagner 73 70

144 Aron Price (Aus) 75 69, Charley Hoffman 72 72, Chris Stroud 73 71, Zach Johnson 71 73, Brian Gay 73 71, Jason Day (Aus) 73 71, Blake Adams 73 71, Chad Collins 74 70, Andres Romero (Arg) 68 76, Padraig Harrington (Irl) 72 72

145 Brian Stuard 69 76, Bill Lunde 73 72, Ross Fisher (Eng) 72 73, Roger Tambellini 74 71, Steve Wheatcroft 75 70, Greg Owen (Eng) 74 71, Matthew Jones (Aus) 74 71, Charles Howell III 74 71, Will MacKenzie 71 74, Rory McIlroy (NIrl) 72 73, Steve Marino 73 72, Brett Quigley 73 72, Tim Petrovic 74 71, Ryuji Imada (Jpn) 74 71, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 75 70, Lee Westwood (Eng) 73 72, Henrik Bjornstad (Nor) 72 73, Scott McCarron 70 75, Rodney Pampling (Aus) 70 75, Tim Herron 71 74, Michael Connell 76 69, Mark Wilson 73 72, Kenny Perry 66 79, D.A. Points 72 73, Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 73 72, Mark Calcavecchia 71 74, Carl Pettersson (Swe) 74 71, Rocco Mediate 70 75, Brandt Snedeker 70 75, D.J. Trahan 73 72

The following players missed the cut

146 Kris Blanks 72 74, Vaughn Taylor 71 75, John Senden (Aus) 74 72, David Toms 71 75, Ted Purdy 76 70, Scott Piercy 75 71, Matt Kuchar 75 71, Chez Reavie 73 73, Alex Cejka (Ger) 70 76, Tim Wilkinson (Nzl) 72 74, Troy Matteson 70 76, Ryan Moore 73 73, Jason Bohn 75 71

147 David Lutterus (Rsa) 76 71, Jeff Overton 71 76, David Duval 71 76, Webb Simpson 74 73, Alex Prugh 72 75, Martin Laird (Sco) 72 75, Cortland Lowe 75 72, Brian Davis (Eng) 76 71, Pat Perez 76 71, Stewart Cink 72 75, Fred Couples 76 71, Derek Lamely 75 72, Michael Allen 75 72, J.B. Holmes 79 68, George McNeill 74 73, Jeff Maggert 74 73, Kevin Stadler 72 75, Jonathan Byrd 72 75

148 Spencer Levin 75 73, Charles Warren 74 74, Chris Riley 77 71, Harrison Frazar 70 78, Garrett Willis 74 74, Ben Curtis 71 77, Cameron Percy (Aus) 69 79, James Nitties (Aus) 72 76, Mathew Goggin (Aus) 73 75, Fredrik Jacobson (Swe) 77 71, Jimmy Walker 73 75, Josh Teater 74 74

149 James Driscoll 73 76, Matt Bettencourt 78 71, Nick O’Hern (Aus) 73 76, Kevin Streelman 74 75, Vijay Singh (Fij) 77 72, Sean O’Hair 72 77, Rich Barcelo 75 74, Cameron Tringale 78 71

150 Bryce Molder 76 74, Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 72 78, Woody Austin 74 76, Boo Weekley 74 76, Jerod Turner 76 74

151 Nathan Green (Aus) 77 74, Richard S Johnson (Swe) 78 73, Adam Scott (Aus) 78 73, Roland Thatcher 75 76

152 Martin Flores 76 76, Troy Merritt 76 76

153 Daniel Chopra (Swe) 76 77, Tiger Woods 74 79, Omar Uresti 81 72, Cameron Beckman 78 75, Jeff Quinney 74 79

154 Vance Veazey 76 78, Steve Lowery 76 78, Craig Bowden 76 78

155 Jason Dufner 80 75, Notah Begay III 78 77

156 Nicholas Thompson 75 81

157 Jeff Klauk 78 79

158 Willis Ring 78 80, Kevin Johnson 81 77

165 Jeff Peck 87 78

WD: 88 Parker McLachlin