| AP Sports Headlines |
Sunday, July 21, 2002
By JIM MCCABE
c.2002 The Boston Globe
GULLANE, Scotland - It took until the third day of competition, but the British Open began Saturday at Muirfield. That it coincided with the end of Tiger Woods's bid for the Grand Slam made for perhaps one of the most bizarre and memorable days in professional golf history.
Chilled to the bone by howling wind and whipping rain, and humbled by his worst-ever score as a professonal - a 10-over-par 81 - Woods fell 11 shots behind the unflappable Ernie Els and all but conceded that this third leg of the Grand Slam would not go his way.
"Yeah, probably. There are too many guys between me and the lead," said Woods, who had started the day just two shots off the lead and very much the center of attention, as he earlier this year had won the Masters and US Open. No one has ever won all four major championships in the same calendar year - and that will remain true through 2002.
Two benign days had left players wondering what had happened to the flavor of this championship, but it returned Saturday in all its glory.
"I mean, it was some of the toughest conditions I've ever seen," said Els, the two-time US Open champion who has been frustrated in his attempts to win a third major title since the arrival of Woods. But in driving rain on these hallowed links, Els recovered from an outward 40 to shoot 1-over 72 and settle in at 5-under 208, leading by two shots over unheralded Soren Hansen (73-210) and by three over a group of seven - Justin Leonard (68), Justin Rose (68), Sergio Garcia (71), Scott McCarron (72), Thomas Bjorn (73), Des Smyth (74), and Shigeki Maruyama (75).
At Muirfield, there are no trees - and now, no Woods in sight of the leaderboard, either.
"I think today, for the first time, I really didn't think a lot about Tiger," said Els, drawing laughter because it's no secret that the big and easygoing South African has been frustrated by the world's No. 1 player on countless occasions. "I was just trying to survive."
Most of those who teed off in the afternoon had the same game plan because just as the morning half of the draw had been completed, a fierce block of black sky moved over this 111-year-old course. Almost on cue, the rain poured down and the wind got into a frenzy just as Woods - at 4 under - teed off of No. 1. He flew it well right into the rough, made bogey, and began a four-hour waterslide that wouldn't stop until he had splashed into a tie for 67th at 6 over.
Woods said he never quit, even when he went out in 42, then bogeyed Nos. 10 and 12 to fall to 4 over. "I was still trying to get back to even par," said Woods. "Even at 1 over I thought I could still have a chance."
But 6 over? And 11 back? No chance, and he knows it. A reality that throws the spotlight on Els, who in 2000 finished a distant second to Woods at Opens on both sides of the pond. Els started the day at 6 under, tied with four others, then went out and bogeyed four of the first six holes.
Normally, that's awful. On this day, it was progress.
By the time he got to the back, Els was the only second-round leader still standing. A report of the others explains how wacky a day it was:
--Maruyama birdied No. 1, then played the next nine holes in 6 over to fall three behind, tied for third.
--Padraig Harrington was 1 under through three, then played the next five holes in 6 over to fall back with a 76-212, tied for 10th.
--Duffy Waldorf shot a befuddling 77 - 45 out, 32 in - to tumble into a tie for 14th, five shots back.
--Bob Tway double bogeyed the first hole and exited quietly, shooting 78-214, tied for 23d.
Moving up as those leaders went down was, most surprisingly, Hansen, the Swede whose only European Tour win came recently in the Irish Open. He'll be paired with Els Sunday, but more attention will perhaps be paid to most of those seven players at 2-under 211.
Leonard and Rose got there first, helped greatly by playing in the morning. By the time they returned to their warm quarters, they settled in to watch most of the leaders fall back - some more quickly than others.
For a while, it appeared as if 2 under could be leading, but Els turned things around down the homestretch, just as the weather was upgraded from horrendous to awful.
"The weather got a little bit better, as you saw," said Els, who birdied the par-4 11th, par-3 13th, then offset a bogey at the par-4 14th with birdies at the par-3 16th and par-5 17th. On a day when leaders were doing 65 miles per hour in reverse, Els only lost one shot from where he had started.
"We had a half-hour wait (on the fourth tee)," said Els. "At that moment, I really thought we were in trouble."
He was, because Harrington had gotten to 7 under with a birdie at the first, an act that Maruyama quickly duplicated. Then, when Els lost four shots to par going out, the struggle was to see who could stay at 3 under.
Smyth, who at 49 could become the oldest winner of a major, doubled the first hole, then played the next 15 in 1 under and for a moment he was at 4 under and in the lead. Only he finished bogey-bogey, making way for Els, playing in the last group, to sweep into the lead,
A short while earlier, Garcia, whose two-birdie, two-bogey effort had showed a remarkable maturity, had talked about the relief of being off the course. "I don't want to be out there," he said, "even if I'm 11 under."
Somewhere, Leonard and Rose were rested and relaxed, and the other guys in chase - from Hansen to Smyth to Bjorn to McCarron to Maruyama - were quicker to the confines of warmth than Els, who had to answer more questions.
Only there were just three about Woods, which is far under par from what Els is used to. The Big Easy they call him, and for good reason. He laughed and said, "We kept dropping shots and they wouldn't take us off the leaderboard. So I felt pretty good about that."
He was cold, wet, and tired. But he had assumed command of the 131st British Open - and that warmed his spirits in a hurry.
|
|
 |
© 1995- The E.W.
Scripps Co. and the Abilene Reporter-News. All Rights Reserved. Site users are subject to our User Agreement. We also have a Privacy Policy. |
