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Tiger Reins In The Black Beauty
Sun Herald
Sunday June 16, 2002
IT WAS all going Tiger Woods's way in the second round of the US Open. Not even the dawn-to-dusk downpour that soaked skins and dampened spirits all round could bog down Woods, who is in command of his own peerless game as well as America's national championship.
With one last four-metre birdie putt at the 18th hole, Woods put a finishing flourish on one of the more astounding rounds of his already stellar career, a two-under-par 68 that left him on 135, five under for the tournament and three shots ahead of his closest pursuer, Irishman Padraig Harrington (68).
Both sweet scores were accomplished in abominable conditions of chilling rain and gusting wind on the longest and arguably toughest Open course in history. The 6,596m Bethpage Black continued to take its toll, with Woods and Harrington the only players under par in the 156-man field. The scoring average yesterday was 76.5, with 29 rounds of 80 or higher.
In the afternoon, players faced standing water and rivers running through a number of saturated fairways. Workers used squeegees on greens and tees to sweep away puddles, and umbrellas stayed open all day. Fresh towels were the most precious caddie commodity, but keeping club grips dry was often a futile endeavour.
Spain's Sergio Garcia, who tied for third (74-142) after teeing off later than Woods, wanted play halted and said: ``If Tiger Woods would have been out there, I think it would have been called." Davis Love III (71-142) said: ``We would have stopped at most tournaments. It was right on the edge."
Woods insisted that swinging in the rain had never bothered him.
``Growing up in Southern California, obviously we didn't get a whole lot of rain," Woods said. ``When we did, I used to love to go out and play in it. The only hard part was trying to convince my mom that I could go out and play without catching a cold. That was not easy. I had to do a lot of convincing."
It wasn't very easy yesterday making the cut of 10-over (the highest since Pebble Beach in 1972), or keeping title hopes alive. Only 18 players are now within 10 shots of the lead.
Phil Mickelson, only two back after the first round, faded with three bogeys in a four-hole stretch in the middle of his second and posted 73 for 143, eight off the pace.
Garcia, a shot behind after the first round, needed 23 waggles of his club to hit his opening drive and 28 to hit his second shot to the green. And he was even more jittery when he walked off No2 with a double bogey that sent him back to even.
The 22-year-old never did get a grip on his emotions. He was yapping at the crowd all day and gave one noisy heckler a gesture at the 16th hole. He described it as ``a fist, sort of". Garcia then tossed and slammed clubs in anger and fired a ball into the ground in disgust at the eighth green, leaving a gash he had to repair. He did keep himself somewhat in the hunt, though, seven off the lead.
Woods never lost his cool, or his game. He came here trying to become the first player since Jack Nicklaus in 1972 to win the US Masters and US Open in the same year. He's also got his eyes on another far more significant prize - the first player to win the grand slam, all four major pro championships in a single season.
The No1 player in the world won four straight majors starting with the 2000 Open at Pebble Beach and ending with his victory in the 2001 Masters. He led from start to finish at Pebble Beach, another extremely difficult course, and left the field far behind.
Woods has been unbeatable in the past 12 events in which he has been in the lead after 36 holes. His record with the lead after 54 holes is equally impressive, winning 23 of 25, including this year's Masters.
What Woods did on Friday in the worst Open weather conditions in recent memory was nearly beyond belief.
Never mind the birdie at 18. His best shot of the day saved an incredible par at the 189m 17th when he hit his tee shot over the green and into tall grass.
He was seemingly dead and buried in 20cm-high grass, 15m from the hole. It was pouring, with raindrops adding another distraction. But there was Woods, flipping a sand wedge shot that landed exactly where he wanted it in the fringe.
The ball checked up, slowing down just enough to get a perfect roll down a slight slope towards the hole.
For an instant, it looked as if it might catch the left edge of the cup and go in. Instead, it missed by a couple of centimetres and stopped just past the hole for his par-saving putt. That might well become the signature shot of pure genius if he wins.
``I figured even if I landed short of the green, it's still going to tumble down there," Woods said. ``The key was to get enough height so that I can land it with decent softness. It came out absolutely perfect. Stevie [Williams, his caddie] got so fired up, I thought he was going to run me over ... I got away with it. I hit a really good one."
Woods hit his share of bad ones as well, finding only nine of 14 fairways and hitting only 12 greens in regulation. But once again his putter was almost perfect in the 3-5m range. He needed 27 strokes in all, with nine one-putt greens, six to save scrambling pars.
He began with three birdies on his first four holes, making putts of 1m, 1.5m, 60cm and 2m. He struggled from Nos8 to 10, hitting approach shots into greenside bunkers at all three holes and playing them in two over.
At the 192m eighth, his ball plugged in the sand and ``I had no shot at making par. I said, `I'm just going to grind it out so I don't make double bogey. Just go ahead and make your bogey, and let's get out of there."'
He smashed his ball onto the green with a huge swing but could not make the 5m putt for par. At No9, his drive went way right and his only hope was to dig it out of deep grass and get it in the front bunker. His blast left him with a tricky 4m putt but, as usual, he made that to preserve a two-under front-side 33.
At the 450m 10th, his 5-iron from the middle of the fairway again landed in the wet sand and he missed the 3m par putt to fall back to four under.
Woods then posted seven straight pars, adding another sand save with a 3m putt at the 15th.
That final birdie at the 18th made up for a very long day of dodging disaster and raindrops all the way around the course.
LEADERBOARD Tiger Woods -5 Padraig Harrington (IRE) -2 Sergio Garcia (ESP) +2 K.J. Choi (KOR) +2 Davis Love III +2 Jeff Maggert +2 Billy Mayfair +3 Shigeki Maruyama (JPN) +3 Phil Mickelson +3 Scott McCarron +4 Steve Fiesch +4 Rocco Mediate +4 Robert Allenby (AUS) +4 Niclas Fasth (SWE) +4 Justin Leonard +4 Tom Byrumi +4 Selected others Nick Faldo (GBR) (+6) Ernie Els (RSA) (+7) Tom Lehman (+8) Jose Maria Oiazabai (ESP) (+8) David Toms (+8) Greg Norman (AUS) (+8) Darren Clarke (IRE) (+8) Jesper Parnevik (SWE) (+8) Thomas Bjorn (DEN) (+10) John Daly (+10) Vijay Singh (FIJI) (+10) Missed the cut (set at +10) Selected players +11 Kirk Triplett, David Duval, Peter O'Malley (AUS), Colin Montgomerie (GBR). +12 Mike Weir (CAN), Stewart Cink. +13 Greg Chalmers (AUS), Jim Furyk, Lee Janzen. +14 Retief Goosen (RSA), +15 Michael Campbell (NZ). +27 Wayne Grady (AUS). * (US unless noted)
© 2002 Sun Herald