CHARLOTTE, N.C. _ It may have taken 36 holes, but we finally got a glimpse of the old Tiger Woods _ on his final hole Friday.
Overall, he's hit the ball well off the tee, and his irons, too, he said. But his putting?
"I've struggled," Woods said after his second round at the Wells Fargo Championship ended. "I've struggled with the greens being as slow as they are. Today I tried to make sure I hit the putts harder and I kept pulling them.
"My feels just aren't matching up with the speed of these greens."
A day after shooting an even-par 71, Woods finished Friday with a 73. It put him at 2-over par for the tournament, nine strokes behind leader Peter Malnati. That score was just good enough to push Woods above the cut line and help him survive to this weekend.
And if that sounds like Woods just barely skated through to the second half of this tournament, that's because he did _ and if not for a birdie on his final hole, he wouldn't have.
When Woods finished his first round on Thursday, he lamented his poor putting at a course he hasn't played since 2012. If his short game had been even a little bit average, Woods said, he'd be sitting there with the leaders.
"I've hit it good enough to be right up next to that lead," Woods reiterated on Friday. "If I just putt normal, I'm right there. I'm hitting it fine and I just need to make some putts.
That, of course, is easier said than done, though, as Woods proved again with his second round. Starting on the back nine, the 14-time major champion had opportunities for birdies on three of his first four holes ... and instead missed them. After two bogeys in his first five holes, Woods had positioned himself for an uphill climb the rest of the morning rather than an easy ride into the weekend.
"I've missed so many putts," Woods said. "Putts I missed yesterday, I was blocking them, trying to hit them the right pace. Today, I was pulling them, trying to hit them harder, try to put more hit in my stroke and release the toe of my putter and I just wasn't doing it right today.
"Literally, if I just putt normal, I'm probably 5 or 6 under par."
There were more tough shots to follow _ the entirely-off putt at No. 2, the shank off the tee at No. 3, the three-putt for bogey at No. 6 _ and with each one, Woods' odds of advancing to the weekend seemed lower and lower.
And then, on the final hole of the round, the breakthrough he'd been waiting for.
On the par-4 No. 9, Woods left himself with an 8-foot putt for birdie.
Woods analyzed the greens, set up just as he had on his previous misses. Finally he stepped to the ball. A soft stroke, and away it went. It broke slowly, just as Woods had wanted, and just as it hadn't for most of the previous 35 holes.
And then ... plop. Good. Birdie. Safety.
Woods threw out his arms as if to say, 'It's about time,' and then waved off the hole as he collected his ball. The crowds that had been following him everywhere the past three days finally got what they'd been hoping for.
Minutes later, Woods met with reporters _ and you betcha that last birdie helped his mood.
"I'm on a hot streak right now," Woods joked. "I made the last putt."
But Woods knew how poorly he played, and he owned up to it. The question now will be whether he can improve over the weekend, or if the putting problems will persist.
"I've got to do some more work. I've had ample time to make the adjustment to hit the putts," Woods said, "and I'm just struggling hitting them that hard.
"Hopefully this weekend I'll hit it the way I've been hitting it and get a hot putter on the weekend. You never know."
