Monday, August 20, 2001
Woods accepts hard knocks; Mediocre results
part of fickle sport, he says
By Jack Saylor
Knight Ridder Newspapers
(KRT)
DULUTH, Ga. — The magic has disappeared from Tiger Woods’
golf game for the time being.
Looking for a three-peat as the PGA champion, the world’s
No. 1-rated player came to a long course at the
Atlanta Athletic Club that looked tailor-made for his strength.
But he shot 73-67 and barely made the cut, then posted
a lukewarm finish.
Woods shot par 70 Sunday — a ho-hum round with two birdies,
two bogeys — for a one-under 279 — 14
shots back. He started the day 13 strokes behind after a third-round
69.
“I striped it good today, but I didn’t make anything
on the greens,” Woods said.
Woods finished out of the top 10 for his fifth straight tournament,
a first in his career, after having won five times in
his previous six outings, plus tying for third in the Byron Nelson
Classic.
The string consists of the U.S. Open (tie for 12th), Buick
Classic (tie for 16th), Western Open (tie for 20th),
British Open (tie for 25th) and PGA (tie for 29th).
“I think it’s part of playing sports,” said
Woods, who has won six majors, but none on a par-70, with two
fewer
par-fives than usual, like the course this week. “You can’t
have everything go your way all the time, especially in this
sport — it’s pretty fickle. I’ve been blessed to
play this way for the last few years with a lot of good breaks.
I haven’t
gotten things to go my way lately and on top of that, I really
haven’t played well.”
But Woods said he’s looking forward to four important
events: world championships next week at Akron, where
he’s the defending champ, and in September at St. Louis,
then the Ryder Cup and Tour Championship.
“Health permitting, I may be playing this game as long
as Arnold Palmer has, so you really can’t beat yourself up
over every single shot, single round or single tournament,”
said Woods, 25. “There is always something from every
round you play that you learn something from.”
———
© 2001, Detroit Free Press.
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