| AP Sports Headlines |
Friday, July 19, 2002
By Mike Kern
Knight Ridder Newspapers
GULLANE, Scotland - So when was the last time Tiger Woods posted the highest score in his threesome? And what were the chances that would happen Thursday, in the opening round of what most of the world simply calls the Open Championship?
Ladbrokes Sportsbook, one of many places where legal betting is encouraged, listed the planet's premier golfer at an unprecedented 7-4 to win his second claret jug in 3 years and third consecutive major in 4 months. England's Justin Rose was 40-1, the 13th choice, while Japan's Shigeki Maruyama was double that, the 27th-longest proposition on the board. The odds against Woods not making a bogey were only 33-1. Not for 18 holes, but the tournament.
Anyway, those three teed off at 9:01 a.m., in Game No. 12, as they refer to their pairings over here. By the time Tiger made a bogey, at No. 6, the group already had five birdies. One belonged to Woods. So it went, on a day when storied Muirfield was about as vulnerable as it's likely to get. Rose and Maruyama both got to 4-under par at the ninth, where the former made eagle and the latter birdie. Rose gave it right back with a bogey at 10, while Maruyama waited until 14 to drop a stroke. They each finished at 3-under-par 68, tied for fourth with what seemed like half of East Lothian County, two behind Sweden's Carl Pettersson (150-1), reigning PGA champ David Toms (33-1) and Duffy Waldorf (also 150-1).
As for Tiger, he made another bogey, on 10, to go with birds at 5, 9 and 11. It added up to 70. Had his putter been cooking, he might have gone low. This way, he at least let a bunch of guys think they have a shot. At least for now.
"I had six or seven lip-outs," said Woods, who won this tournament at St. Andrews two summers ago. "If those go in, it would've been a pretty good round. It was frustrating, in the sense that I was hitting the putts well. I think pace of the greens were a problem for everybody. These are slower than we normally play week after week. But they have to do that because if the wind ever blows, they can lose control of them."
Woods almost lost control on his first shot, when a photographer snapped a camera at the wrong time and Woods hit into some seriously heavy stuff right of the narrow fairway. But he managed to hack his ball out, knocked a sand wedge to 8 feet and saved par. Like many, he used his driver only three times, on a course where accuracy trumps pure distance most of the way around.
"If I didn't make double (bogey on 1), I was doing well," said Woods, who's trying to become the only man other than Ben Hogan in 1953 to win the Masters, U.S. Open and British in the same year. "By making 4, it was like stealing. If you shoot four solid rounds, more than likely you're going to have a chance to win. I got myself where I needed to be, especially if the weather is the way it's supposed to be the next few days."
The forecast called for rain overnight, ending by midday. Good thing Tiger doesn't tee off until the afternoon. Maybe he really does get every break, after all. Tomorrow, the wind is going to kick up, as it is supposed to do on a links layout.
"I've always enjoyed playing in tougher conditions," said Woods, who proved that last month at Bethpage Black. "Because if you shoot a good round you're going to move up. A lot of times on tour now, if you go out and shoot 67, you get lapped. It's nice to get rewarded."
Tiger is shooting for a Grand Slam, which didn't even make him the gallery favorite in his own group.
"Obviously they want (Rose) to play well, and I think he conducted himself beautifully," Woods said. "He certainly has the talent. He's a great kid. I thoroughly enjoyed playing with them. It was nice that all of us played well at the same time."
Rose, who turns 22 in 11 days, is the youngest player in the field. He finished fourth at Royal Birkdale in 1998 as an amateur, turned pro the following day and proceeded to miss 21 straight cuts. But he has won four times worldwide this season, twice in Europe. Maybe he's ready to take the quantum leap.
"I was pretty nervous, more than I've been all year," Rose admitted. "But I settled in pretty quickly. I didn't know how I was going to react, but I did know I had the ability to cope with it. It's nice to have done all the right things out there.
"Tiger is the one player where there's definitely an aura about him. The first time you play with him is a bit of an eye-opener. But I didn't get caught up in all the stuff that goes on around him. Outscoring Tiger today doesn't mean anything for the rest of the tournament. But it's a nice spot to be in. I feel battle hardened."
Profitable, too. Several of his friends backed him to beat Woods, at 5-2. And he gets to try again Friday.
"There wasn't really much conversation," Rose said. "There's too much to think about. But he was very complimentary. He doesn't fail to acknowledge shots you play. That's all you can ask from a playing partner.
"(Woods) stayed pretty patient. It looked like he definitely had a game plan and stuck with it."
What else is new?
Maruyama appeared quite content to assume the role of the third wheel.
"I've played with Tiger, so I'm used to the rhythm," he said, through an interpreter. "He lives in a different world from us. So it doesn't really bother me."
Someone asked if he was getting closer to Tiger's level.
"Not at all," Maruyama laughed. "It's the first day, so I didn't really feel so much pressure. I can't really tell you how I'm going to feel toward the end of the tournament.
"(Woods) did make some comments to me. `Well, I didn't expect that kind of line on the green.' And I said, `Well, yeah, I agree.' But all he did throughout the day was to sigh."
So who would wager on that lasting too much longer?
___
© 2002, Philadelphia Daily News.
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