Friday, July 20, 2001
Tiger on the prowl after escape
on the 14th hole
By TIM DAHLBERG
AP Sports Writer
LYTHAM ST. ANNES, England (AP) — Tiger
Woods frowned, pointed right, and yelled “Fore” just
like a weekend hacker. His tee shot on the 14th hole was heading
way right, and a promising round suddenly seemed in trouble.
Once Woods got through a wall of fans to
find his ball, though, he realized it wasn't all that bad. And
neither was his position going into the third round of the British
Open.
Four shots back of Colin Montgomerie going
into the weekend, Woods is casting an imposing shadow over the
130th Open.
“We all have an eye on him,” Montgomerie
said. “He's the best player in the world.”
No one doubts that, but there were times
on Friday that Woods hardly looked the part.
He hit some errant tee shots into knee-high
rough, including a final 3-wood on the 18th hole that barely stayed
in play. On other holes, he had to hack his way out of a variety
of greenside bunkers.
Some nifty par-5 play saved the day, though,
giving Woods a 3-under 68 that put him in the hunt for his second
British Open title in a row.
“All in all, a pretty good round today,”
Woods said. “I feel pretty good about where I'm at.”
Woods, who opened with an even-par 71, got
back in the red numbers with back-to-back birdies on the par-5
sixth and seventh holes. It was a rally that would have sparked
huge roars of approval if this was a major championship in the
United States.
But the crowds packed into bleachers and
lining the fairways at Royal Lytham had another hero to cheer
on. Colin Montgomerie got their roars, while Woods had to settle
for polite applause.
It didn't seem to matter much to Woods,
who kept his head down in concentration as he went about his business.
He chatted with playing partner Thomas Levet, but this was a day
when his game face was clearly on.
“I know people want me to laugh and
smile,” Woods said. “But it's kind of hard to do that
on a golf course this difficult.”
The key to Woods' second round came on the
three par-5s, all of which he birdied. The last two both came
from greenside bunkers, where he got up-and-down out of the heavy
sand.
“This golf course is not playing easy.
Birdies are not easy to come by and today was a good example of
that,” Woods said. “It's often tough, and to be at 3-under-par,
I feel pretty good about that.”
Woods may not have felt so good, though,
had he not gotten a break on the 14th hole. It was the kind of
break he didn't get at the U.S. Open in Tulsa, where his streak
of major championship wins was snapped at four.
His drive sailed so far right it went over
the gallery, landing in an area between holes trampled by the
crowd. Woods had a good lie and hit a short iron 20 feet from
the hole, sinking the put for an unlikely birdie.
“It's like a car park birdie,”
Woods said, likening it to the shot on the 16th hole at Royal
Lytham in the 1979 Open that helped Seve Ballesteros win.
Montgomerie, playing two holes behind, didn't
know Woods was making a move because the defending champion's
name hadn't made it onto the yellow hand scoreboards posted around
the course.
He found out soon enough, though, after
he finished his round.
“I'm happy he's behind me,” Montgomerie
said. “I will be happier on Sunday if he's behind me.”
Woods will be just as happy to be in the
hunt on Sunday, where he's familiar with the pressures of major
championships and what needs to be done to win them.
Montgomerie doesn't, as Woods was glad to
point out.
“I've won major championships and I've
won the Open. That in itself relieves a lot of tension, a lot
of pressure, because you know what it takes,” Woods said.
“If you haven't won one, then it becomes a little more difficult.”
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