Sunday, August 19, 2001
Charge not in cards for Woods
By JIM MCCABE
c.2001 The Boston Globe
DULUTH, Ga. — With a slam-dunk roar,
Tiger Woods mounted a charge midway through Saturday's third round
of the PGA Championship at Atlanta Athletic Club.
With a chop-chop finish, he pulled the plug
on his fading chances and bade farewell to the majors for 2001.
“I figured that if I could shoot 3,
4, or 5 under par on the back nine, I'd be right back in this
game,” said Woods, explaining his emotions after holing out
with a sand wedge from 110 yards at the 416-yard ninth hole. He
was 2 under for the tournament, seven shots back, but he hadn't
given up hope.
Nine holes later, all hope had melted away
in the suffocating humidity, and Woods was disappointed.
With a bogey-bogey finish, Woods shot 69—209
and was left in an 11-man group at 1 under, 13 shots behind leader
David Toms. Unless a 58 is in his bag, he'll have to wait until
next April to take a shot at his seventh major championship.
Woods was attempting to become just the
second player — Walter Hagen being the other — to win
three straight PGAs, but more than that, he had hoped to put to
rest rumors about any woes with his game. Instead, he only added
fuel to the flames with a rather indifferent third round.
Having barely made the cut with a dramatic
finish Friday, Woods birdied the par-4 second Saturday, but followed
with a bogey at the next hole and then bogeyed the par-5 fifth
to fall to 1 over. After going birdie-eagle at Nos. 8-9 to get
to 2 under, Woods received another jolt of life when he two-putted
for birdie at the par-5 12th.
Then, crash.
Following a brilliant shot from beneath
the lip of a bunker at the 442-yard, par-4 14th, Woods missed
a 2-footer to save par. He drained an 18-footer for birdie at
the par-3 15th, but gave that back when he three-putted the par-3
17th. In closing with a whimper, Woods missed the green to the
back fringe at the par-4 18th and left his chip 15 feet short.
Two putts for a bogey, a disappointing 69, and the woes had most
certainly continued.
Barring an incredible finish, Woods will
finish outside the top 10 in a PGA Tour event for the fifth straight
time, marking the first time that's happened. In his last 19 rounds,
Woods is an average of 1.72 under par, which isn't awful. It just
doesn't compare with what he was in his previous 40, which was
3.27 under per round.
Though he won the Masters in April, the
2001 major campaign will pale in comparison with 2000. When he
won three majors a year ago, Woods was 53 under in 16 rounds.
Through 15 rounds this year, he's just 15 under in the majors.
It also will be the first time in the Woods
era that the final round of the PGA hasn't included him as a factor.
Since 1997, Woods has been fifth, sixth, first, and first through
54 holes in this event. Sunday, he starts in a tie for 32d.
On a bright note, with six wins in 20 major
starts as a professional, Woods is on pace with Jack Nicklaus,
who also won six of his first 20. It is Nicklaus's mark of 18
career majors that Woods covets.
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