Woods finally birdied at the 412-yard 12th to improve to three over par, but Faldo followed his six at the ninth with another at the 374-yard 10th.
The two double bogeys had sent him tumbling to four over par and suddenly the task was to survive the cut, likely to fall at around five over.
US Open Scores 67 H Irwin
69 L Roberts, S Cink
70 A Cabrera (Arg), P Mickelson, S Garcia (Spa), M Gogel, M Calcavecchia
71 D Wilson, O Browne, R Mediate, B Langer (Ger), B Quigley
72 B May, B Chamblee, R Zokol (Can), D Love, J Sandelin (Swe), C Perry, K Triplett
73 D Peoples, P Harrington (Irl), T Kite, S Hoch, P Lawrie (Gbr), S Jones, S Stricker, H Frazar, C Paulson, K Sutherland, B Faxon, R Damron, S Micheel
74 G Orr (Gbr), S Gangluff, T Pernice, C Smith, P Azinger, R Beem, R Allenby (Aus), V Singh (Fij), D Clarke (Gbr), K Blackman, A Kang (S Kor), J Dufner, E Romero (Arg), J Maxon, T Petrovic
75 D Paulson, B Henninger, C Howell, W Wood, L Westwood (Gbr), B Tway, B Andrade, D Waldorf, JD Blake, J Huston, F Langham, B Klapprott, G Koch, B Bates, D Forsman
76 C Campbell, T Lehman, P Fulke (Swe), D Hammond, P Goydos, R Black, J Harris
77 C Raulerson, JM Olazabal (Spa), D Pride, MA Jimenez (Spn), G Day, K Johnson, W Heffernan, C Anderson, M Allen
78 M Schiene, T Taniguchi (Jpn), G Nicklaus, F Funk, J Leonard, N Begay, M Sposa
79 C Dennis, J Walker
80 J Daley, S Appleby (Aus), J Hart
81 S Flesch
82 S Johnson
84 G Frake
Retired: P Price (Gbr)