TROON, Scotland — Tiger Woods tied a personal record in the British Open on Friday, one he could have done without but perhaps should come to expect.

Woods matched his highest 36-hole score as a professional – 156 – to miss the cut for the third straight time in a major.

He tapped in for a routine par on the 18th hole at Royal Troon and signed for a 6-over 77, a round that got away from him early with a double bogey and never improved.

“It wasn’t very good,” Woods said. “I made a double right out of the hopper when I needed to go the other way. Just was fighting it pretty much all day. I never really hit it close enough to make birdies, and consequently made a lot of bogeys.”

That brought a short season to an abrupt end.

Woods said he won’t play again until December, possibly at his Hero World Challenge with a 20-man field in the Bahamas. He specifically referenced what he jokingly calls his fifth major, the PNC Championship, a 36-hole exhibition where he plays alongside his 15-year-old son, Charlie.

He played all four majors for the first time since 2019 – the year he won the Masters for his 15th career major – but played only one other tournament, withdrawing after 24 holes from the Genesis Invitational in February because of the flu.

He needs to play more to get sharp. But playing more risks taking a toll on a body that has been battered by back surgeries, knee surgeries and a February 2021 car crash that shattered his right leg and ankle.

It’s the ultimate Catch-22 for a player who turns 49 at the end of the year.

“I’d like to have played more, but I just wanted to make sure that I was able to play the major championships this year,” he said. “I got a lot of time off to get better, to be better physically, which has been the case all year.

“Physically I’ve gotten better, which is great. I just need to keep progressing like that, and then eventually start playing more competitively and start getting into kind of the competitive flow again.”

He has never liked the idea of being a ceremonial golfer, but that’s what the scores suggest.

In his 10 rounds at the majors this year, his average score was 75.6. He shot over par in all but one round – an even-par 72 in the first round at the Masters – and has gone 15 consecutive rounds in the majors since he last broke par.

Woods also had a 156 when he missed the cut in the 2015 U.S. Open at Chambers Bay, where he was trying to return from the first of what would be five back surgeries. His only 36-hole score higher in a PGA Tour event was a 157 at Bay Hill in 1994 when he was a high school senior.

HOMA REGROUPS: Max Homa watched the 30-foot birdie putt drop into the cup and let out a huge roar, his biggest celebration since his strong Ryder Cup debut last year in Italy.

The reason for his celebration? Two more days at the British Open. And while he was 13 shots behind, it was a big moment to at least have something go his way for the first time since April.

“Just been really not playing very well, and golf has not been very fun,” Homa said.

He was in contention on the back nine at the Masters in April, but has had only one top 10 since then. In the majors, he was middle-of-the-pack at the PGA Championship and he missed the cut at the U.S. Open.

“I’ve been doing a poor job mentally,” Homa said. “I just felt like today, for one of the first times maybe ever, I just never really flinched, never blinked. I played 16 really good holes and just made two really bad swings.”

Those bad swings cost him in a big way – a double bogey on the par-3 fifth hole, and a tee shot out of play on the tough 12th that led to triple bogey. It looked certain to be a weekend off until two birdies on the last three holes, none bigger than the 18th.

“Maybe I’m just proud of myself,” he said. “This is my favorite tournament in the world. So to have the chance to potentially play two more days, I don’t know, I had an out-of-body experience. I didn’t really expect to yell like I won a golf tournament.

“It just felt really good. I felt like I fought all day.”

GOING HOME EARLY: It’s usually newsworthy when a highly-ranked player misses the cut in a major. There were plenty to choose from Friday at Royal Troon.

Four of the top 10 players in the world missed the cut – Rory McIlroy, Bryson DeChambeau, Ludvig Aberg and Wyndham Clark.

And it didn’t stop there. Also going home early were Tommy Fleetwood and Tom Kim, Sahith Theegala and Tony Finau, and newly appointed Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley.

Fleetwood was asked to reflect on his round, and he could have been speaking for all of them.

“It’s a missed cut, isn’t it?” he said. “And it’s a weekend where I don’t get to play golf and have a chance.”

OLYMPICS ON TAP: Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood are turning their attention to the Paris Olympics. The men’s competition starts Aug. 1 at Le Golf National, where both players competed for Europe’s winning Ryder Cup team in 2018.

McIlroy and Fleetwood were at the Tokyo Games at the last Olympics. McIlroy was part of a seven-man playoff for the bronze medal that C.T. Pan won.

McIlroy said now that the majors have come and gone for him, he will “sort of refocus and try to reset for the Olympics, which will be another cool experience, and try to play well there.”

Fleetwood won the 2017 French Open title at the Golf National course.

“Hopefully, I can get my game in better shape and go in and win a medal,” he said.