Tiger Woods roared back into competition with a spectacular entrance to Valhalla on Wednesday that was surreal even for golf’s rock star. On Friday, he exited with a whimper amid equally absurd circumstances when he missed the PGA Championship cut by about the same cavernous distance that his tee shots missed the Louisville fairways.

Woods ended his abbreviated, injury-plagued stay -- and likely his lost 2014 season -- with a two-day total of 6-over, which was five shots outside the projected cut line. Friday marked the fourth missed cut as a pro at a major for Woods, who watched playing partner and long-time rival Phil Mickelson finish their two-day golf date (along with Padraig Harrington) at 6-under -- inside the top five and just three shots back of 36-hole leader Rory McIlroy.

Indeed, with McIlroy looking unbeatable and poised to win his fourth major, second of the season, and third straight event as Woods struggled just bending down to pick up his tee, it was never more evident that we were likely witnessing the end of one era and the onset of another.

Crowds crossed paths today as @McIlroyRory's group finished on 9 as #TigerWood's group headed out for their round. pic.twitter.com/jl91PrPpCs — PGA Championship (@PGAChampionship) August 8, 2014

Woods, who withdrew from last week’s WGC-Bridgestone Invitational after jarring his surgically repaired back, was limping almost from the start of his second round. His back and game got increasingly more painful as the round wore on.

"That’s just awful," Jim Nantz said after Woods’ hesitant birdie putt -- a hallmark of his shaggy play over two days -- did not even scare the 13th hole as it wobbled to the right.

"That’s just hard to believe," concurred Nant's colleague, David Feherty. "Thirty-one holes, he has not hit a green, made a putt for birdie."

Woods’ lone birdie to that point came with a chip-on on his seventh hole (No. 16) on Thursday. He finally drained a putt for a three on the par-4 15th.

"That's it," Feherty said sarcastically. "That's the comeback started."

But of course, it was too little, too late for Woods, who will have to wait until Augusta in April to try to end his almost seven-year major drought. Needing a strong second round to make the cut after struggling to a 3-over 74 in Thursday's opener at Valhalla, Woods could make absolutely nothing happen.

In just his fourth competitive start since back surgery, his play was particularly uninspired, beginning with a yanked tee shot on No. 1. It got worse from there. A missed birdie putt following a flag-seeking tee shot on the par-3 third and an errant drive right into a fairway bunker that led to a bogey 5 at the fourth did nothing to help the cause.

A double-bogey on No. 6 seemed to seal the deal for a withdrawal, but Woods soldiered on. A grimace and falter after losing his drive far left into a swampy area on the seventh was some 150 yards wide of his right-wing drive on the same hole a day earlier. That shot had TNT broadcasters urging Woods to withdraw and predicting he would not make the turn.

After knocking it back out from that mess, he grimaced while airmailing his approach shot well over the green. It was ugly to watch, and at that point, one wondered whether or not he'd even finish that hole, let alone the front nine.

From the seventh hole on, Woods displayed visible pain after almost every shot until he did, indeed, make the turn.

Woods said, upon his arrival at Valhalla after three days of speculation about his future, that he was pain-free after undergoing treatment for a displaced sacrum that he "jarred" on the second hole of the tilt at Firestone. His game, on the other hand, was just plain painful to watch, his missed fairways mounting as did his score.

"To miss an iron from 200 yards for any professional golfer, let alone Tiger Woods, 34 yards to the left of your target, that’s a big miss. And short. A fat pull, basically," Golf Channel analyst Arron Oberholser said on Thursday after Woods chunked his approach to the par-4 16th.

During his opening round, questions about whether his back was again a problem arose after Woods lost his drive off the par-4 second hole way foul left into the hazard. He was able to salvage a bogey 5, but things were not looking good for the 14-time major champion who, after finding five of nine fairways and five of 11 greens in regulation through 11 holes, had dipped to 3-over heading to the par-3 third tee.

By any standard -- even in the soap opera that is Woods’ life -- Friday was a bizarre scene. Tiger gimped from green to tee with fans cheering him on while TNT announcers took bets on if and when he would call it quits. When Woods cut through the parking lot that media members mobbed when he drove up two days ago and continued to the 10th hole, one could envision money changing hands in the TV booth.

In the end, the MC marked the third of the season for Woods, who was playing poorly before he went on hiatus and underwent back surgery in March. He missed his first-ever 54-hole cut at Torrey Pines in January and failed to get beyond his second round at last month’s Quicken Loans National in his first start after the microdiscectomy.

Tiger -- healthy or not -- never had a realistic chance to win this week. His game was just not good enough and he had too few competitive rounds under his belt. For sure, making the FedExCup playoffs was out of the question, unless he won at Valhalla, and the Ryder Cup was a long shot.

Now, unable to play well and certainly not fit, Tiger's candidacy as a captain's pick for the U.S. Ryder Cup team would appear to be over. Unless he does something completely unexpected and commits to next week’s Wyndham Championship, Woods' 2014 swan song was Friday's ugly second round.