Golf: Tiger tumbles at US Open

Tiger Woods removes his hat after his second round in the U.S. Open golf tournament at Chambers Bay on Friday, June 19, 2015 in University Place, Wash. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

Tiger Woods headed for the exit door at the US Open on Friday, a slightly-improved 76 in the second round failing to repair the damage done by a horrendous opening 80.

That effort - his worst at any US Open and the fourth worst of his pro career - left the sport's former dominant force with a mountain to climb just to make the cut.

"I hit it a little bit better today but I made nothing," Woods said. "I hit it in spots where I could make putts but I made nothing."

And things quickly went from bad to worse at Chambers Bay early in the day as the 39-year-old American, whose last major title came in this same tournament seven years ago, bogeyed the 10th, his opener.

"On a golf course like this you get exposed," Woods said.

Another wayward drive lodged into a steeply sloping bank of long fescue grass and the three-time former US Open winner ended up on his backside as he slipped measuring up his next shot.

He did manage an up-and-down from a bunker at the short par 12th for birdie - just his second of the tournament - but he was needing a round in the mid sixties to have any hope of playing at the weekend and that did never looked remotely likely.

Bogeys at 14 and 18 brought him to the turn at two over 36 and at 12 over for the tournament, his fate had already been sealed.

He soldiered grimly on helped along by a birdie at the first, but more bogeys followed at 2, 3, 7, 8 and 9 as his game started yet again to unravel.

On his own admission, Woods is playing the worst golf of his career and he has fallen to 195th in the world rankings which excludes him from some of the top tournaments coming up.

His last missed the cut in the US Open came at Winged Foot in 2006, shortly after the death of his father Earl.

His previous missed cuts in any major tournament came at the PGA Championships of 2014 and 2011.

Woods will now have three full weeks to try and regroup ahead of the year's third major, the British Open, which this year takes place at St Andrews where he won in 2000 and 2005.

He then has the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits, Wisconsin, the last of the year's four Grand Slam tournaments.

Those two majors will be his last chances to salvage something from the wreckage strewn across the worst year of his career since turning pro in 1996.

With his 40th birthday beckoning at the end of the year, time is fast running out for him to realise his lifelong ambition to surpass the 18 major title wins of Jack Nicklaus.

-AAP