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Saturday, July 20, 2002
By Mark Whicker
The Orange County Register
GULLANE, Scotland – Even when he spends a whole day off the leaderboards, Tiger Woods is the serene eye of a Grand Slam hurricane.
He fully accepted the challenge of making up a two-stroke lead over the final 36 holes of the British Open, after his bogey-free 68 at Muirfield on Friday.
Woods is tied for ninth place and has not won a major tournament when he has been lower than fourth at the halfway point.
He currently aims at Ernie Els, Padraig Harrington, Duffy Waldorf, Bob Tway and Shigeki Maruyama, the leaders at 6-under-par, with Els holding a three-stroke lead in the process of shooting a 7-under 29 on the front.
One stroke behind them are Ireland's Des Smyth, Sweden's Carl Pettersson, and Denmark's Soren Hansen.
Woods, intent on becoming the first player to win golf's four major championships in the same calendar year, had three birdies but considered a 20-foot par-saving putt on the 10th hole his turning point. His drive found rough so deep that he asked for permission to determine if the ball was imbedded, but was rebuffed.
"I thought, well, just get the ball onto the green and see what happens," he said. "When I made that putt I thought I had kept the momentum going. I was playing beautifully up until then, and I didn't want to make a bogey there."
Woods' makeable birdie putts on 15 and 16 rimmed out, but he sank a curving 15-footer on the 17th to get to 4-under, on a dark, misty "Scottish summer's day," as Colin Montgomerie described it.
"I've felt very comfortable this week," Woods said. "I've gotten the ball on the fairway and then determined how aggressive to be. Anytime you're close to the lead in a major championship you have to be happy, especially on a course as difficult as this one.
"When you look at it, I missed three birdie putts inside 10 feet. If I make all those then things are a little different."
It also could have been different if Els had disappeared from the field, as he threatened to. He was 8-under after a front nine in which he recorded two 4s and seven 3s on his card. But he had trouble finding the fairways on the way in and slid back to Maruyama, who shot 68 while playing in Woods' group.
The ever-smiling Maruyama, a two-time winner on the American tour, could become the first Japanese to win a major championship. He has not allowed himself those dreams.
"Golf is a four-day sport," he said. "At the end I'm sure Tiger will be on top of me. If I say I want to win, that only makes for more suffering for myself. I don't have the confidence to make any comment about me winning."
Harrington, who finished fifth at the Masters and eighth at the U.S. Open, shot a 67 that included birdies on holes 2 through 4.
Montgomerie had the low round of the tournament, a 64 that brought him to 4-under.
"The golf course is playing tough, even with no wind," Woods said. "They've put the pins on a lot of knobs and crests. Anytime you hit it off the fairway you're looking at bogey or double-bogey. The only time I had a chance to make double was on the first hole yesterday, and fortunately I got a par out of it."
Waldorf, the only man to lead each day, was struggling until he eagled No. 9. He barely missed an eagle putt on 17 that would have given him the outright lead. He finished after 8 p.m., in front of a limited gathering.
"It was like Thursday morning on the PGA Tour," Waldorf said.
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© 2002, The Orange County Register (Santa Ana, Calif.).
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