SPRINGFIELD, N.J. — How does the No. 1 player in the world get the round started that would determine whether or not he’d be around for the weekend at the PGA Championship? By making a routine birdie on the first hole. Just the way the plan was drawn up. That plan probably didn’t include the three consecutive bogeys that followed, however. “I needed all the help I could get, obviously,” he said. “When I got to 7-over (after the fourth hole), I knew I had to hang in there, be patient, make a birdie or two and get to the back nine.” He made enough birdies on the back (Nos. 11, 12 and 15) that he was 4-over par when he got to No. 17, right on the cut line. But on that 650-yard, par 5 17th, Woods defied what seemed to be conventional wisdom by going for the green in 2. After a drive of 381 yards, he launched a “smooth” 3-wood that had to carry 269 yards to the front of the green. The shot did that with ease, but when it came to rest pin high in the left greenside bunker, it did so up against the back lip of the bunker, leaving him virtually no shot. Instead of an easy birdie to take the pressure off with the reachable par 5 18th in the wings, Woods ended up making bogey on 17. That made birdie an absolute necessity. “I knew then I had to suck it up and hit two good golf shots on 18, and that’s what I’m really proud of,” Woods said. His round boiled down to a good drive and good iron shot into the green, both of which he accomplished. All he had to do was two-putt from 20 feet to make the cut, and he did. “I messed up a couple times today. I three-putted twice out there and didn’t get anything going,” Woods said. “Nothing really went my way today, but it worked out in the end.” Woods didn’t even get the chance to savor making the cut long before the questions started about what it was going to take for him to win the PGA. “Well, I’ve snuck in before and won the tournament, but a lot of it is dependent on what Phil (Mickelson) does the next two days,” Woods said. “If he posts a couple good numbers, in the mid-to-upper 60s, then it’s going to be tough. All I can do is hopefully go out there and post a low one earlier in the softer conditions and give myself some hope for Sunday.” Woods and his playing partners — Michael Campbell and Kevin Sutherland — were marginally involved in an unfortunate incident early in the round. The players were approaching the green at the fourth hole when a big limb on a very old red oak tree snapped and crashed to the ground. Three people, including two employees of Turner and CBS Sports were injured. Frank Choy, a freelance audio technician working for Turner Sports, broke his left leg and was taken to a hospital. Bob Welsch, who was operating the jib camera under the tree, sustained abrasions to his left forearm and was treated at the site and released. A 60-year-old spectator, who asked not to be identified, was treated at the golf club’s medical office for minor bruises on his left arm and released.

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