Sunday, June 17, 2001
Woods still hopeful about open
chances
By ART GARCIA
c.2001 Fort Worth Star-Telegram
TULSA, Okla. — After two uncharacteristic
and often frustrating rounds, Tiger Woods walked off the course
at Southern Hills Country Club on Saturday with a sense of optimism
about today's final round of the 101st U.S. Open.
But whether optimism translates into a realistic
shot at his fifth consecutive major, not even the world's top
golfer knows for sure.
“All depends on what the conditions
are tomorrow,” said Woods, who led the 2000 U.S. Open by
10 strokes heading into the final round. “I think if I go
back and play the way I did today, and I make a few more putts,
who knows, I might have a chance. But I need to go out there and
do what I can, and that is try and execute golf shots the way
I know I can.”
Woods enters today after his first sub-par
round at Southern Hills, a 1-under 69. At 4 over after rounds
of 74-71-69, Woods sits tied for 23rd and nine strokes back of
co-leaders Stewart Cink and Retief Goosen.
Woods' largest rally after three rounds
took place at the 1998 Johnnie Walker Classic. Trailing Ernie
Els by eight strokes, Woods shot a 65 and forced a playoff with
Els before claiming the victory.
In four of Woods' last six victories, including
the Memorial two weeks ago, Woods trailed going into the final
round. However, the largest deficit in any of those events was
two shots at the 2001 Players Championship and 2000 PGA Grand
Slam.
If Woods is going to make a run today, he'll
probably need a similar round to the finale at the Walker. His
third-round improvement gives reason for hope, and over the last
27 holes, Woods is 2 under.
After splitting only half of 14 fairways
in the first round, Woods hit 10 Saturday — his best performance
of the tournament. He also hit a tourney-high 66.7 percent of
greens (12) in regulation.
“I drove the balls in more fairways
today and that allows me to control my golf ball into the greens,”
Woods said. “As you know, these greens aren't exactly big.
And with the slopes in them and the way they've got the pins tucked,
you need to hit the ball in the fairway to have a chance at some
of these pins.”
Woods' four-birdie, three-bogey round featured
several putts that just grazed the edge of the cup and didn't
fall. It's been that kind of week for Woods.
“That's the beauty of our game,”
he said. “That's why we play ... because you're going to
have days when you're not going to have it. When you do have it,
and you do play well, you appreciate those days.”
“I've just had a few bad shots this
week,” Woods continued. “Haven't really got the breaks
that I've needed, and as I've said, in order to win you're going
to have to get lucky.”
Luck might be more important than anything
Woods does today. Phil Mickelson, in sixth at 3 under, said Woods
is capable of shooting 8 or 9 under par today, but ...
“With as many guys as on the leader
board /Rahead of Woods/S, it's not a matter of one or two guys
faltering,” Mickelson said. “You're going to have to
have six, seven or eight guys faltering. I don't see that happening.
He's going to have to go catch everybody.”
Woods thinks maybe he could. When he came
into the clubhouse, the trio of 36-hole leaders, including Fort
Worth's Mark Brooks, still held the lead at 4-under. Looking up
the leader board, Woods summed up his chances.
“Not that far behind, only eight back,”
he said of a deficit that grew by one. “In a U.S. Open, that's
not really as much as you might think. If I was playing the Bob
Hope eight back, you're not looking too good. But I think being
eight back as of right now, it's a tough spot, but if I go out
there and play a good, solid round tomorrow, you never know.”
nn
Start or Join A Discussion about This Story
Send the URL (Address)
of This Story to A Friend:
|
