PACIFIC PALISADES, CA — Tiger Woods’s return to Riviera Country Club lasted just two days as the 14-time major champion missed the cut in the Genesis Open, where Graeme McDowell and Patrick Cantlay shared the lead Friday.

Woods’s eight bogeys included three in a row on the back nine as he battled to a five-over par 76.

“I really didn’t play well today,” Woods said. “I missed every tee shot left and I did not putt well, didn’t feel very good on the greens and consequently never made a run.

“I knew I had to make a run on that back nine, and I went the other way.”

Woods had a 36-hole total of six-over par 148 — four shots outside the projected cutline as darkness fell and 13 shots off the pace set by McDowell and Cantlay.

McDowell opened his five-under par 66 with three straight birdies at the 10th, 11th and 12th. He followed that with back-to-back bogeys but grabbed four more birdies to surge up the leaderboard.

Cantlay, who shared the overnight lead with Tony Finau, had five birdies in his two-under par 69.

He launched a string of three straight birdies with a near hole-in-one at the par-three sixth, his 15th of the day.

American Sam Saunders was seven-under with three to play when darkness fell with a handful of players on the course.

Ryan Moore closed out a three-under par 68 in the fading light to reach the clubhouse on six-under par 136.

Former US Open winner McDowell has just one top-10 finish worldwide in the past 18 months. Without a victory since 215, he has plummeted to 219th in the world rankings and arrived at Riviera off three straight missed cuts to start the season.

Woods has no such weekend excitement to look forward to.

The southern California native grew up playing Riviera, and indeed played his first US PGA Tour event here as a 16-year-old in 1992.

But he’s never won in 11 prior appearances, and hadn’t teed it up on the classic course west of downtown Los Angeles in 12 years.

It was always going to be a tough proposition in the second tournament of his latest comeback bid — three weeks after he finished tied for 23rd at Torrey Pines.

While Woods’s weekend duties are reduced to those of tournament host, with his TGR Foundation the charitable beneficiary of the event, a bevy of players remain in the hunt.

Twenty-three players are within five strokes of the lead. That includes four-time major winner Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas, who both played alongside Woods.

Thomas, whose five victories last season included the US PGA Championship, carded an even par 71 while McIlroy signed for a two-under 69. They were both in a group of 10 sharing 15th place on two-under.

Jimenez ahead

Miguel Angel Jimenez eagled the par-5 third hole and shot an 8-under 64 Friday to take a one-stroke lead in the PGA Tour Champions’ Chubb Classic.

Gary Hallberg and David Frost were tied for second — with some help from their peers.

Hallberg birdied the last three and had nine birdies and two bogeys in his season debut. Playing on a sponsor exemption, he got some swing help from Lanny Wadkins Thursday. — Agencies