While Nick Watney charged into an early one-shot lead in Friday's second round of the Wells Fargo Championship in Charlotte, North Carolina, a frustrated Tiger Woods was likely to miss the cut. Former world No. 1 Woods battled to a one-over-par 73 at Quail Hollow Club, failing to birdie any of the four-par-five holes and finishing two strokes outside the projected cutline. The greatest player of his generation and arguably the best of all time, Woods has missed just seven cuts as a professional, most recently at last year's PGA Championship in Atlanta. “The entire week I didn't play the par-fives well,” Woods told reporters after parring his last nine holes to post an even-par total of 144, a distant 12 strokes behind fellow American Watney who fired an eight-under 64. “You just can't do that, especially when all of them are reachable with irons. I didn't take care of the par-fives, missed a couple of other little short ones for birdie and consequently got no momentum during the round.” Asked to explain why he had struggled, Woods replied: “It all has to do with my setup. If I get over the golf ball and I feel uncomfortable, I hit it great. It's just that I get out there and I want to get comfortable, and I follow my old stuff.” While Woods struggled on the challenging Quail Hollow layout, four-time PGA Tour champion Watney surged to the top of the leaderboard with a superb 64 that included seven birdies, an eagle at the par-five 15th and a lone bogey. Former British Open champion Stewart Cink carded a 69 to sit two strokes off the pace with Ben Crane (64) at 10 under, four shots better than US Open champion Rory McIlroy who improved on his opening 70 with a 68. British world No. 3 Lee Westwood and four-time major champion Phil Mickelson were among the day's late starters. The cut was projected to fall at two under with former major winners Angel Cabrera, Vijay Singh and Mike Weir among those likely to miss out. Manassero on a roll Italian teen Matteo Manassero boosted his hopes of making the US Open by moving into contention at the 100th Spanish Open in Seville on day two Friday. Manassero's 2-under-par 70 moved him to 4 under for the tournament and one stroke behind clubhouse leader Gregory Bourdy (66) in windy conditions. The 19-year-old Manassero shared second place with Spain's Jorge Campillo (72) and the England duo of Robert Rock (72) and Simon Dyson (69). Manassero, ranked 64th in the world, needs to be inside the top 60 as of May 21 to ensure securing a place in the US Open starting on June 14 in San Francisco.
