CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The little boy in the Ben Hogan hat did a theatrical header, feigning a full faint, when his hero hurriedly walked past on the 12th hole.

Tiger Woods, despite all the slings and arrows of the recent past, remains an icon to many, including Ernest Faison IV, a 7-year-old from the Charlotte area who fell flat on his face along the gallery ropes when Woods ambled by.

"Greatest day of my life," the boy yelled happily as he rolled around in the grass.

The same could hardly be said of his hero.

It was a day of worsts, firsts and double-bogey bursts.

For only the sixth time in his PGA Tour career, Woods was sent home after the second round after skidding to a 7-over 79 at the Quail Hollow Championship. It was his worst round as a pro in the United States, worst in a regular tour event and second-worst of his career.

He finished 9 over and missed the cut by an astounding eight strokes, getting his nose rubbed in his sloppy play by playing partner Angel Cabrera, who was crushing him by 17 strokes after 33 holes. Take a moment to consider those numbers, because you've never seen them before.

For those who thought Woods deserved to suffer a bit because of his off-the-course travails, well, karma took dead aim at him this week in Charlotte and left him deader than Carolina roadkill. He was heckled at least once, played as poorly as he has at any point in his career, then was forced to endure several lengthy delays because of backed-up play on the 16th and 17th tee boxes. He was forced to stew in his own juices.

At times, it looked like Icelandic volcano ash was leaking from every orifice, and Woods couldn't get off the course fast enough. For the first time, he mailed it in over the last few holes when any chance of making the cut was history. Woods has repeatedly professed to giving every shot his best effort over the years, but this time, he flat-out quit.

When he four-jacked the 14th hole, he barely waited for the ball to stop rolling before he slapped at it again. When he dunked a ball in the water hazard beside the 13th green with an awful lob shot, he hit a pair of wedge shots without bothering to take a practice swing.

"It's frustrating," Woods said. "I didn't have much. At that point in time it was pretty much out of reach, and I was just trying to stay out of Angel's way. He's the one who's leading the golf tournament, and that's kind of what you're supposed to do."

Conversely, very little went the way Woods wanted it to. He hit a not-so-grand total of six fairways in two days, and in the second round, he three-putted twice and four-jacked another. There wasn't a single element in his bag that looked sharp.

"Well, he hit a bunch of crooked shots off the tee and didn't have the heroic up-and-down shots like he always does," playing partner Stewart Cink said. "He kind of got steamrolled on the back nine. Happens to the best of them."

It hasn't happened to Woods -- who matched his high nine-hole score with a 43 -- in such rude fashion. Never before had he had such a horrific disaster, including his 81 at the British Open in 2002, which was played during a brutal storm and slanting rain. The only thing in the skies Friday was the blimp overhead. It was an idyllic day for scoring, other than for the world No. 1.

One stroke outside the projected cutline, the spiral began on the 10th hole, an easy par-5. Woods hit a series of poor shots, then missed a 5-footer for par. Two men behind the green were waiting, having seemingly choreographed their catcall.

"Get in the hole," the first guy shouted as the putt skirted the hole.

"That's what she said," added the second, almost immediately.

Woods was the player featured in the photograph on the Friday gallery passes. Good thing they didn't wait until Saturday. Woods has been sent home on the weekend six times in 241 career events, although 53 of them were no-cut.

As play backed up on the final three holes, Boo Weekley walked onto the 16th tee just as Woods had teed off and spied the 9 over score posted beside his name on the standard bearer's toteboard. Boo's eyes did a double-take.

A moment earlier, Cabrera had plopped down in a chair on the same tee box and wrote down Woods' score for the two previous holes on the scorecard he was keeping for him -- consecutive double-bogeys.

"He's just not there right now," Weekley said to a couple of reporters, describing Woods' mental state. "The man's human. Y'all are Tiger stalkers."

Weekley meant the latter as a joke. But it was true -- for another three holes, anyway.

If there was any semblance of a silver lining for Woods, it was that he mustered up the nerve to do three sets of interviews afterward and never once tossed a club or was heard cursing during his spectacular slide into weekend oblivion.

Woods is entered next week at the Players Championship, a course where he has the least amount of wins -- one -- among the tour venues he plays regularly. He cracked that he would spend the weekend watching the other players "to see how it's done."

Exactly how much his marital issues and the tabloid feeding frenzy it has spawned played a part in this week is hard to gauge, probably even for Woods.

"Well, I get asked every day [about it]," he said. "Every day I do media, I get asked it, so it doesn't go away. Even when I'm at home, paparazzi still follow us, helicopters still hover around.

"Does it test you? Yes, of course it does. Is that any excuse? No, because I'm out there and I have the same opportunity as everybody else here in this field to shoot a good number, and I didn't do that."

Not everybody took the disastrous developments so hard. Faison's mom, Josette, laughed as her son rolled around in the grass after seeing his favorite sports figure, who was effectively a dead-man walking at that stage.

"Oh, no," she said. "He couldn't really care less about what he shoots." Hand it to the wide-eyed simplicity of childhood. The kid found the only way to feel good about watching Woods' performance Friday.