Sunday, June 17, 2001
Woods shoots 69, still faces
daunting task at U.S. Open
By PAUL NEWBERRY
AP Sports Writer
TULSA, Okla. (AP) — Tiger Woods shot
his best round of the U.S. Open, a 1-under-par 69 Saturday, but
will still need a historic comeback to win his fifth straight
major.
Phil Mickelson, teeing off more than two
hours after Woods, was the one making a charge early in the third
round. The left-hander birdied three of the first five holes to
move briefly into a share of the lead.
Retief Goosen, J.L. Lewis and Mark Brooks
were tied after the second round, but Goosen went to the top at
5 under with a birdie on the fourth hole.
Brooks, Lewis, Mickelson and Sergio Garcia
were one shot back, the Spaniard in contention at a major for
the first time since he leapt onto the scene at the PGA Championship
two years ago.
Davis Love III, playing his first tournament
in two months after back and neck injuries, birdied four of five
holes to reach 3 under.
Beginning the day with a nine-shot deficit,
Woods had four birdies — more than he managed through the
first two rounds combined — but missed several putts that
would have taken his score lower.
Still, he felt capable of making up the
deficit, which stood at nine strokes shortly after he walked off
the course at Southern Hills Country Club with a 4-over 214.
“If I go out and play like I did today
and make a few putts, who knows? I might have a chance,”
Woods said. “I need to make a run and get myself back on
that board.”
Mickelson, playing on his 31st birthday,
desperately wants to shake the label of “best player never
to win a major.” After a hole-in-one Friday, he started strong
by making birdie putts at the first, third and fifth holes.
Mickelson's score could have been even better.
A 12-footer slid by the cup at No. 4 and a birdie attempt lipped
out on the sixth.
Woods recited a couple of the greatest comebacks
in major championship history. Paul Lawrie came back from a 10-shot
deficit to win the 1999 British Open. Johnny Miller shot a final-round
63 to win the 1973 U.S. Open.
“Anybody within 10 shots of the lead
can win the U.S. Open,” Woods said. “You just have to
have everything go your way.”
He knocked his first shot of the day into
a bunker and wound up with a bogey. Overall, though, he was much
more solid from the tee and fairway.
But Woods' putter kept letting him down.
His most glaring miscue was a missed 4-footer at the 13th, and
he raised his putter several times thinking putts would fall,
only to be disappointed.
Those were the kind of shots he always seemed
to make during his sweep of the Big Four tournaments.
Woods picked up his first birdie at the
642-yard fifth, nearly reaching the green in two shots. He sank
a 10-footer to complete an up-and-down from the sand.
At No. 8, Woods knocked a 3-iron to 5 feet
and made the birdie putt. He also birdied the 14th by rolling
in a 15-footer.
But he bogeyed No. 9 after plugging his
second shot in the rough in front of a bunker, the lost another
stroke at 12 when his tee shot sailed into the trees.
Amateur Bryce Molder, who needed three birdies
on his final six holes Friday just to make the cut, continued
his hot play with a 68. Michael Allen was low scorer among the
early finishers, a 67.
Woods had his worst opening round in the
U.S. Open in three years, a 4-over 74. He spent the next 18 holes
flirting with the cut line before a late run of birdies kept him
around for the weekend.
Woods finished the second round with an
ordinary 71, facing his largest deficit in a major since the 2000
Masters, the only Big Four event he didn't win of the last six.
Two-time Open winner Lee Janzen left the
course Friday believing he was tied with Woods at 145. The U.S.
Golf Association, however, assessed Janzen a belated two-stroke
penalty that caused him to miss the cut by one stroke instead
of making it by the same margin.
Janzen was penalized for using a towel to
dry the dew-covered fairway before he re-spotted his ball when
the first round resumed early Friday.
“I certainly wasn't trying to break
any rules,” he said. “I won't break that rule again.”
Brooks, who won the 1996 PGA Championship,
was the only leader after the second round with any kind of pedigree.
Goosen, a 32-year-old South African, plays
on the European Tour. Lewis, a 40-year-old former club pro who
has only one PGA Tour victory, opened with back-to-back 68s in
a major championship he described as “just a golf tournament.”
Thirty-three players had to return to the
course early Saturday to complete the second round. They were
halted Friday when darkness fell.
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