Friday, September 7, 2001
Pride doesn't get course record,
only the lead
By DOUG FERGUSON
AP Golf Writer
MONTREAL (AP) — Dicky Pride set a course
record Friday at Royal Montreal that lasted only about five minutes.
His consolation prize was a one-stroke lead in the Canadian Open.
Pride, who has never finished in the top
100 on the money list since his only PGA Tour victory in 1994,
made three straight birdies on the back nine and finished with
a 6-under-par 64 and a one-stroke lead over Matt Gogel and David
Morland IV of Canada.
Scott Verplank, the first rookie to be a
captain's pick for the Ryder Cup, broke Pride's short-lived record
with nine birdies in a round of 63. An hour later, Morland chipped
in for birdie on his 17th hole and also finished at 63.
“A course record ... and then it was
broken,” said Pride, who was at 131.
At least he only lost a spot in the history
books at North America's oldest golf club.
Tiger Woods lost a ball, which was nestled
20 feet high in a pine tree on the second fairway and led to a
triple bogey that left him reeling, but not out of contention.
“Anybody under par has a chance to
win,” Woods said after a 3-over 73 left him seven strokes
behind.
A wild and windy day finally concluded with
Woods heading to the practice range and a group of unlikely suspects
at the top of the leaderboard. Of the top 12 players, only two
have won on the PGA Tour this year.
It starts with Pride, who hasn't finished
higher than 46th this year and recently split with his swing coach
of 12 years.
“I've hit the ball solid and I'm putting
well, so I'm giving myself opportunities to make birdie and that's
kind of what you need to do,” Pride said.
Morland has a chance to become the first
Canadian to win his national golf championship since Pat Fletcher
in 1954. His first memory of the Canadian Open was in 1986 when
he was a 14-year-old volunteer in the media center. That was the
year Greg Norman had a 62 in the third round at Glen Abbey.
“I thought, 'How could someone shoot
62 on that golf course?'” he said.
Others were wondering the same thing about
Morland and Verplank, whose 63 put him two strokes back at 133.
The answer: a calm, soft morning. Six players
who had early times had 65 or better, which previously was the
course record. It was quite a different test in the afternoon,
as the dry wind swirled through the trees and dried out the Blue
Course at Royal Montreal.
Vijay Singh missed the cut after rounds
of 72-71, ending the second-longest streak among active players
at 24.
Leading that list is Woods, who made the
cut for the 76th straight PGA Tour event. Royal Montreal is the
only course where he missed a cut, at the 1997 Canadian Open,
and that was never really in question.
But a bizarre triple bogey on No. 2 —
his 11th hole — made it interesting.
Woods hit driver down the right side and
when he finished walking 320 yards there was no ball to be found.
He looked in the rough and over to the right, then resigned himself
to a long walk back to the tee box.
That's when the crowd started yelling and
pointing to a tree. There was a ball nestled high in the pines,
but Woods couldn't identify it as his, “and I wasn't about
to climb the tree to do that.”
Turns out it wasn't his, anyway. Fans shook
it loose — it was a Titleist. After he hit his tee shot again,
another ball was spotted. The Nike swoosh could be seen through
a camera lens, but that wasn't enough identification and it was
too late, anyway.
Still, fans lobbed liter-sized bottles of
water and hurled apples into the tree trying to jar it loose.
Woods hit his second tee shot in about the same spot, pitched
from the rough through the green, chunked a chip and two-putted
for a 7.
“Tiger, you're ball is in the tree,”
a fan shouted.
“It's too late,” Woods muttered,
clearly annoyed. He missed his next three fairways and hit only
six out of 14 for the round, unable to get anything going.
“I hung in there,” Woods said
after his round.
Bob Estes, who went wire-to-wire to win
in Memphis this year, had a 65 in the morning and was at 134 with
Paul Gow and Mark O'Meara, who hasn't won anything since the Masters
and British Open three years ago.
Steve Jones, who won the Canadian Open the
last time it was played at Royal Montreal, was another stroke
back after a 68, along with Match Play champion Steve Stricker.
Divots:
Joel Edwards, coming off his first victory last week in Vancouver,
was in jeopardy of missing the cut until playing his final 11
holes in 4 under. That was no small task considering he was playing
with Woods and had to deal with a horde of photographers unaware
that anyone else was playing golf. As Edwards was about to hit
his approach on No. 2, three photographers ran across the fairway
about 50 yards in front of him. “It was a circus,” Edwards
said. “But it was fun. I'd like to play with him again.”
... Gareth Paddison of New Zealand was the only amateur to make
the cut, at 137. ... Now that Singh's cut streak is over, the
next two players behind Woods' 76 are David Duval and Paul Azinger
at 14 in a row.
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