Scottie Scheffler reacts after missing a putt on the second hole Friday during the second round of the U.S. Open in Pinehurst, N.C. Matt York/Associated Press

PINEHURST, N.C. — Scottie Scheffler chose iron off the tee for position several times Friday at the U.S. Open but sent shots well right of the fairway toward trouble, whether that was a bunker or the dusty dunes or the native plants dotting the landscape.

“What are you DOING?” he said to himself as he watched a shot sail offline.

Not playing great golf would have been one answer.

Pinehurst No. 2 has been getting the best of the No. 1 player in the world. Scheffler had his first birdie-free round in just over two years, a 4-over 74 that left him doubtful he would be back for the weekend.

He barely made it, his 5-over 145 making the cut on the number and leaving him 10 shots behind Ludvig Aberg of Sweden.

“Today, I just couldn’t get the putts to fall,” Scheffler said. “This golf course can be unpredictable at times, and maybe it got the better of me the last couple days. I’ll sit down and think about where we’re going and figure it out.”

So much more was expected of Scheffler for so many reasons. He was coming off his fifth victory of the year at the Memorial, another tough test, making him the first player since Tom Watson in 1980 to win five times on the PGA Tour before the U.S. Open.

He had only finished out of the top 10 once this year, and that was a tie for 17th at The American Express in the California desert.

Most of the damage came on one hole, the par-5 fifth, among the easiest at Pinehurst No. 2. Scheffler was in the fairway and some 10 yards away from having a decent look at eagle. Instead, his ball tumbled off the crowned green to the left into a sandy patch with wiregrass bushes, facing a shot up a steep hill to a short pin.

He would have preferred a low runner, except he felt a bush was in his path, so he tried to bump a shot into the hill. It came up woefully short and rolled back into the sandy area. Then, he blasted it up and over the green. He hit is weakest chip of the day – maybe the year – to 15 feet. And then he missed the putt and ended up with a double bogey.

“Probably on any other golf course, if I hit those two shots – driver, 3-wood – into a green on a par 5, I probably have a pretty good look at birdie,” Scheffler said. “I’m not going to be walking off with a 7. Just unfortunate place for me to put myself.”

It wasn’t just that hole. Scheffler didn’t convert reasonable birdies on three holes early, and he had a tee shot come back off the green on the par-3 15th. He chipped up just beyond 15 feet and thought his par putt was good all the way until it grazed the edge.

Scheffler flipped his putter in the air in disbelief – a common scene in this aggravating game, except he didn’t even attempt to catch it, letting it fall to the turf.

Three holes later, his drive sailed right on the 18th as he was making the turn, and Scheffler smashed the tee in the ground in disgust as the ball sailed into the unknown. Those kind of shots are easily found. It’s just that players have no idea what kind of break they’re going to get – clean lie, soft lie, between wiregrass bushes or right behind them. It gets old.

“I think this golf course is fun to play. It’s exciting,” Scheffler said. “The only aspect of it I don’t really love is the unpredictability of the native areas. I would have preferred for it to be Bermuda rough, but I’m not a course designer.

“My job is to not hit it in there as often as I did this week.”

TIGER WOODS was unable to find the right mix of quality shots and timely breaks to extend his first U.S. Open appearance in four years into the weekend.

He’s heading home. And he’s uncertain if he’ll be back.

The three-time U.S. Open champion missed the cut at 7 over, struggling to deal with tricky domed greens and sandy native areas featuring plants instead of traditional rough. Woods shot a 3-over 73 on Friday after opening with a 74, marking his 13th consecutive round without breaking par in a major.

“It’s one of those things where in order to win a golf tournament, you have to make the cut,” Woods said. “I can’t win the tournament from where I’m at, so it certainly is frustrating.

“I thought I played well enough to be up there in contention. It just didn’t work out.”

Woods, 48, hadn’t played a U.S. Open round since Winged Foot in 2020 because of injuries. He got off to a solid start Friday with two par saves and a birdie at the fourth, but then he posted four bogeys while suffering through multiple close calls on birdie putts that could’ve helped him gain some traction.

“It was probably the highest score I could have possibly shot today,” Woods said. “I hit a lot of good shots that just didn’t quite go my way. Or I hit good putts, and then I put myself in a couple bad spots with some bad lag putts.”

None stung worse than at the 15th hole, when Woods was 6 over and fighting to get inside the cut line.

He put his tee shot on the right edge of the green to set up a 15-foot putt for birdie, then tapped the ball for what looked like a perfect roll to the hole. Woods started to step confidently with his left foot, expecting the ball to drop, only to watch it catch the right edge of the cup, ride the lip about a quarter of the way around to the backside and then trickle away.

Woods froze, then leaned forward with his hands on his knees before finishing the tap-in for par.

“Yeah, 15 hurt,” he said. “If I make that putt, it flips the momentum, and I’m looking pretty good on the last three holes.”

Woods won the U.S. Open in 2000, 2002 and 2008 on the way to becoming a 15-time major champion. He accepted a special exemption to play this week at Pinehurst No. 2, where he finished third in the U.S. Open in 1999 and second in 2005 but didn’t compete in 2014 because of one of his back surgeries.

Asked whether this could be his last U.S. Open, Woods was noncommittal.

“As far as my last … U.S. Open championship, I don’t know what that is,” he said. “It may or may not be.”

FRANCESCO MOLINARI walked to up the final tee box on Friday essentially needing a miracle to make the cut at the U.S. Open.

The Italian delivered with the shot of the day – a dramatic hole-in-one on the 194-yard, par-3 ninth, using a 7-iron. Molinari, who started the round on the back nine, was two strokes over the projected cut line, but the eagle moved him to 5 over for the tournament and will allow him to play this weekend.

Molinari could barely believe his eyes when the ball hit the left edge of the green and starting tracking toward the cup and fell in.

His playing partners, Ryo Ishikawa and Sergio Garcia, had already hit their tee shots and were walking toward the green when they heard the roar of the crowd. They raised their arms in the air simultaneously before returning to congratulate Molinari on the tee box.

“I don’t even know what to say. Just incredible,” Molinari said of his third career ace on the PGA Tour. “… It was the last chance to have a chance to play the weekend. I saw we were still 61st (the top 60 and ties make the cut) at the time. Yeah, that’s golf in a nutshell.”

Molinari said he wasn’t going for an ace, but just wanted to get the ball close and have a shot at a birdie – and then just hope for the best.

“I had just bogeyed 8,” Molinari said. “I was hoping I was able to par 8 and then having to make 2 at 9. With that flag, if you hit a good shot, you can get it within birdie range. But the chances are incredibly small, so I don’t know what to say.”

It was the second hole-in-one of the day on No. 9.

Sepp Straka had an ace earlier, six holes after he hit the flagstick on his way to a triple bogey.

Straka landed the ball in the front portion of the green, and it rolled about 30 feet into the cup. It was the first ace on the PGA Tour for Straka, who raised his arms in jubilation. He also made the cut.

On the short par-4 third hole, Straka’s approach from 139 yards banged into the flagstick, with the ball rolling back off the green and into a bunker. From there, his shot went too far and rolled off the back right side, a rough stretch that ultimately resulted in a triple-bogey 7.

Straka, who was born in Austria and represented Europe in last year’s Ryder Cup, shot a 2-over 72 and was at 2-over 142 through 36 holes.