Friday, August 17, 2001
Tiger in danger of missing PGA cut
By Joe Juliano
Knight Ridder Newspapers
(KRT)
DULUTH, Ga. — Forty-two of the 75 players who teed off
in the morning group to open the 83d PGA
Championship broke or matched par. Tiger Woods wasn’t one
of them. With a 73, Woods was better than only 10
players in the early half of the draw for yesterday’s first
round.
For someone who has won the last two PGAs, and three other
major championships dating to June of last year,
the question begs: What gives?
“If I eliminate my (three) 3-putts, I’m at even
par,” Woods said. “Even though I made a couple of mistakes
out
there, a couple of swing mistakes, and a few 3-putts, if I just
eliminate those, I’m under par. Even though I didn’t
really play well, if I eliminate my mistakes alone, I’m right
there.”
It didn’t sound like a convincing explanation coming
from Woods, who had not posted a good opening-round
score in any of his previous four events. That includes a 4-over-par
74 in the U.S. Open and an even-par 71 in the
British Open.
Woods’ round yesterday at the Atlanta Athletic Club’s
Highlands Course included a pair of double bogeys. The
first came at the par-3 15th — his sixth hole of the day
— when he caught a deep lie in the left rough and hit a thin
second shot that rolled into the water. The other came at the
par-4 third, where he “yipped” a 9-iron far to the left.
The scorecard for his day showed four birdies, three bogeys,
two double bogeys, 14 greens in regulation, and 33
putts. He wound up the day in a tie for 100th place. He is in
danger today of missing the cut, which would break a
streak of 73 in a row dating to 1998.
Woods doesn’t seem fazed. Whether it is just a brave
front, only he knows.
“If I play a good round (Friday), I should be able to
get myself back in the tournament,” he said. “That’s
the good
thing about major championships. If you go out there and play
well, you are going to be rewarded by moving up the
leader board. I’m not that far off.”
Look who’s here. The upper half of the leader board contains
a few surprising names, including that of Nick
Faldo, who lamented earlier in the week that the Atlanta Athletic
Club course was “too long for me” and that “I’m
at a
serious disadvantage.”
Faldo, winner of three Masters titles and three British Opens,
began the PGA with a 67, making him one of 12
players 3 strokes out of the lead. He said a key to his strong
opening was a more carefree attitude.
“Ten years ago, I was genuinely competing to win,”
said Faldo, who won his last major — the Masters — in
1996. “I haven’t been playing as well the last five
years. Now I’m older, and this is an opportunity to play
well and
enjoy it and see what happens.
“I’ve got to use that to take the pressure off myself.
I have a free run at everything. I don’t have to prove
anything. Otherwise, I would get too twitched up.”
The PGA marks Faldo’s 58th consecutive start in a major
championship, longest among active players.
The last-minute Ryders. Some of the players needing to perform
well here to make the U.S. Ryder Cup team got
off to good starts, foreshadowing what could be a wild scramble
on the weekend.
The top 10 players in the Ryder Cup points standings at the
end of this tournament will earn berths on the U.S.
team. Of those ranked between 11th and 20th in the current points
standings, seven players broke par in the opening
round. They included David Toms and Brad Faxon, two of those sharing
second place after each fired a 66.
Toms is 14th in the standings, and needs to finish in the
top six here to have a chance at a top-10 finish. He could
be one of the two discretionary picks by captain Curtis Strange,
but he is not counting on it.
“I talked to him once,” Toms said. “He did
say that he didn’t think he would go beyond the 15th position
for his
pick. He didn’t say I had a chance to be picked. He said,
‘Play well.’ I’ve got it figured that I’ve
got to finish in the
top 10. ... But if I can build on what happened today, I’ll
have a chance to make it.”
Faxon is 13th in points. The 12th-place player, Joe Durant,
who has missed the cut in seven of his previous eight
events to fall out of the top 10, opened here with a 68, as did
Chris DiMarco, who is 11th.
———
© 2001, The Philadelphia Inquirer.
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