Monday, August 27, 2001
Woods works OT at NEC
By Hank Gola
New York Daily News
(KRT)
AKRON, Ohio — The moral of this story is that if you’re
going to wait for Tiger Woods to beat himself, you’re
going to wait an awfully long time and eventually, you’re
going to lose.
Jim Furyk learned that lesson yesterday when he dropped a
seven-hole, sudden-death playoff to Woods in the
NEC Invitational at Firestone Country Club.
Furyk went eyeball to eyeball with the world’s best player
for 25 holes, outplayed him tee to green in the playoff
and even threw a miracle bunker shot at him on the 72nd hole.
All he needed to do was make any of several six- to
10-foot putts, including three in overtime. He just couldn’t
close him out.
“I played well enough to win. My putter kind of failed
me,” said Furyk, normally one of the best putters on the
PGA Tour. “I kept getting real quick downhill left-to-right
putts to win the tournament. (Saturday), those putts went
in.”
The endless playoff - it lasted two hours after both finished
at 12-under par - put an end to Woods’ winless
summer. His third straight win in the Rubber City was also his
fifth this year but his first since the Memorial in June. It
pretty much cemented him as Player of the Year, no matter what
Phil Mickelson, who finished tied for eighth, might
claim.
“It was a war out there. Neither one of us gave an inch,”
a weary Woods said after slumping into his chair in the
interview room. “We did make our share of mistakes but when
we did mess up, we both saved ourselves. I was able
to hang in a bit longer.”
Furyk shot 71, Woods 69 and they finished the fourth round
at 268. It really began to get interesting with six
holes to go. A two-shot swing on 13 gave Woods the lead, then
Furyk got it back with a two-shot swing on 15.
Woods tied it on the next hole when he drained an eight-foot
birdie putt right after Furyk missed his on the same
line. When both players bogeyed 18 out of the back bunker (Woods’
birdie putt to win slid off the low side), they
headed back to the 18th tee for the playoff, a scramble-fest which
alternated between the final two holes for those
next two hours.
There were so many plot twists in the sudden-death marathon
- which saw the players exchange pars for the first
six holes - that Furyk thought he had it won three times and had
lost it three times. Ditto for Woods, who was ready to
accept defeat each time Furyk was poised for the three birdie
putts he missed.
“On every single one of them Stevie (Williams, his caddy)
and I said, ‘It’s over,’ because he’s such
a great putter,
he’s got to make one of those. I was just very lucky that
he didn’t make any of them,” Woods said.
The drama began on the first playoff hole when Furyk left
his first shot in the bunker, then holed out his second
with a soft two-hopper that swished around and in for par and
sent Furyk on a out-of-character fist-pumping tour of
the green.
Furyk would have an opportunity to end it on the next hole
when he lipped out an eight-footer while Woods got
up and down from the back fringe, up against the rough. And he
would have another chance when they returned to 18
and Woods bombed his drive way left, behind a pine tree.
Woods was given relief because the big scoreboard was in his
line to the green and that allowed him to pitch it
back to the fairway, from where he made a brilliant up and down
with a “two-hop skipper” hit with a 60-degree
wedge. Furyk would miss a 12-foot birdie putt for the win and
on they went.
Furyk missed another eight-footer for a win on 17 and Woods
scrambled for par after another wild drive on 18.
Woods then barely missed a 45-footer that would have ended it
on the sixth playoff hole. “I just don’t know how that
putt didn’t go in,” he later said.
On the seventh playoff hole, Furyk drove it under a tree on
18. He had no backswing and wasn’t able to get it
back to the fairway.
“I drove the ball super today. I let one go and it ended
up in the worst possible spot it possibly could,” Furyk
lamented.
Woods had split the fairway — finally - then hit it stiff
from 140 yards out, getting it within two feet of the hole.
After Furyk putted from two feet for bogey, Woods sank his birdie
putt to end it and improve to 6-1 in playoffs.
“It’s a long day,” Woods said. “Not often
do you get a chance to test your emotions and your intensity and
your
level of competitiveness at that high a level. It’s the ultimate.
That to me, it’s a lot of fun.”
———
© 2001, New York Daily News.
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Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
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