Monday, June 17,
2002
Halfway
home to a slam, and Tiger is cruising
By DOUG FERGUSON
AP Golf Writer
FARMINGDALE, N.Y.
(AP) - The longest course in U.S. Open history was only a short
stop for Tiger Woods on his way to a real Grand Slam.
Another runaway victory
in golf's toughest test made it look inevitable.
What was billed as
the "People's Open" came down to one person. Woods captured
the U.S. Open on Sunday and became the first player since Jack
Nicklaus in 1972 to win the first two major championships of the
year.
His rivals wilted
at Augusta National. They battled at Bethpage Black.
It didn't matter.
Nothing stops him.
Woods showed the
power and skill to reach the 13th green with a 2-iron from 263
yards for a birdie that smothered his final challenge. And he
had the mental toughness, as always, to block out everything around
him except the shiny trophy waiting for him at the end.
Earl Woods watched
his 26-year-old son from his hotel room near the course, and recalled
how he jangled coins in his pocket during the kid's backswing
and kicked his tee shots into bad lies, all designed to give him
a killer instinct.
"I told him,
'I promise you one thing: You'll never meet another person as
tough as you,'" Dad said. "He hasn't. And he won't."
This was plenty tough:
_ Three-putt bogeys
on the first two holes, giving Phil Mickelson and Sergio Garcia
fleeting hope.
_ A 49-minute rain
delay, right when Woods faced the meat of the 7,214-yard course.
_ The first final
round over par when he was in contention at a major.
But there he was
again, doffing his cap and smiling during a ceremonial walk toward
the 18th green.
Next stop on his
incredible ride: The British Open in Muirfield, five weeks away.
"I would like
to win the slam," he said. "I've done it before. Hopefully,
I can do it again."
The only sour note
was the ending _ bogeys on two of his last three holes, including
a meaningless three-putt in gathering darkness on the 18th for
a 2-over 72.
It was the first
time the U.S. Open was played on a truly public golf course, and
the Black Course at Bethpage State Park certainly held its own.
Woods was the only player to break par, at 3-under 277.
He still finished
three strokes ahead of Mickelson, who is now 0-for-40 in the majors
but hardly felt like a loser.
"It's certainly
a difficult challenge, five back to the best player in the world,"
he said after closing with a 70.
Woods already has
won his own version of the slam. A year ago, he became the first
player to win four straight professional majors _ the Masters,
U.S. Open, British Open and PGA Championship _ although purists
argue a real Grand Slam is winning all four in the same year.
Don't bet against
him.
"I had all four
trophies on my mantle at the same time, and no one else has ever
done that," Woods said. "Call it what you want. This
will be a different type of slam, I guess."
The question remains:
Can anyone stop him?
Woods reached eight
majors faster than anyone in history, and now has claimed seven
of the last 11 _ unprecedented in golf's four biggest events.
He moved into a tie
with Tom Watson for most majors in a career, and took one more
step toward his ultimate goal, the record 18 professional majors
that Nicklaus won.
Perhaps when the
New Yorkers get their course back next week and pay $39 greens
fees on the weekend, they'll have an even greater appreciation
of how good this guy is.
"It's awesome,
winning your national title and, on top of that, on a public course
in front of these fans," Woods said.
Mickelson and Garcia
each got to within two strokes at times, but not for long.
Woods simply gave
them no chance. He missed only two fairways in the final round
and putted for birdie on 17 out of 18 holes.
Even after his miscues
at the start, he didn't panic.
"I kept telling
myself that I wasn't playing bad," he said. "You're
going to make some mistakes. Get them out of your system."
Mickelson and Garcia
made more than a U.S. Open allows, especially when trying to track
out the world's best player.
Mickelson got to
within two strokes of the lead with a two-putt birdie from the
fringe on No. 13, which put him at 2-under par.
Woods answered with
his two most important shots of the day.
He hit a perfect
drive on the 499-yard 12th hole, the longest par 4 in U.S. Open
history, to take bogey out of the equation. Then, he nailed another
one on the 13th to put him in position for a two-putt birdie.
"I knew I still
had some tough holes to play and couldn't afford a mistake,"
Woods said.
Mickelson made it
easier for him with bogeys on the 16th and 17th holes.
It was Mickelson's
seventh top-3 finish in a major, tying him with Harry "Lighthorse"
Cooper among players who have never won one.
Jeff Maggert had
a 72 and finished third at 282, although he was never a factor.
Garcia was the only
other player to make a run at Woods.
He got to within
two strokes after Woods three-putted the first two holes, and
stayed on his heels until the 22-year-old Spaniard made the kind
of mistakes that a U.S. Open won't allow. Three times he overshot
the green, wound up in ankle-deep grass and couldn't save par.
Garcia had a 74 to finish fourth.
His only consolation
was that Woods finally spoke to him _ but only after the Open
had been decided. Earlier in the round, Garcia tried to be his
pal, even retrieving a divot for Woods on the fourth hole.
Woods never looked
at him. This was Sunday in a major championship, and Woods had
only one thing on his mind.
Nick Faldo made the
most of a special exemption by closing with a 66-73 on the week
to tie for fifth, earning him a trip back next year.
Scott Hoch, who said
his goal was to break 80 the first time he saw Bethpage Black,
made an ace on the 207-yard 17th hole for a 69 and also tied for
fifth at 285.
Woods became only
the fifth player to win the Masters and the U.S. Open in the same
year. The others were Craig Wood (1941), Ben Hogan (1951, 1953),
Arnold Palmer (1960) and Nicklaus in 1972.
Nicklaus went for
the third leg at Muirfield, but finished second by one stroke
to Lee Trevino, his chief rival at the time.
Right now, Woods
doesn't have one.
None of the six players
behind him at the start of the final round had the experience
of winning a major. Their task was to beat the No. 1 player in
the world, who has never lost a 54-hole lead in a major and is
24-2 when he leads going into the last day.
Garcia seemed like
a logical choice to do it, especially after pouting earlier in
the week that Woods was getting all the breaks.
Close to 50,000 people
packed into Bethpage State Park and treated this genteel game
like a championship fight when Woods and Garcia walked to the
first tee. The only thing missing was a staredown.
Instead, Woods was
the first to offer his hand to his playing partner, and after
launching tee shots into the fairway, they walked down the steep
slope and into the arena.
The final-round pressure
of a U.S. Open only intensified when Woods' four-shot margin was
cut in half before he got to the third tee _ a three-putt bogey
from 45 feet on the first hole, another three-putt bogey on the
second from about 40 feet.
Mickelson made a
quick charge with a 6-foot birdie on the first, but an approach
over the fifth green led to bogey, and he took a wild adventure
on the next hole _ from bunker, to knee-high fescue, to bunker
_ and had to made an 8-footer for bogey.
Even the battle with
Garcia didn't hold up. The key swing came at the 489-yard seventh,
with the Spaniard still only three strokes behind.
Garcia went just
over the green into thick rough and failed to save par. Woods
drained a 20-footer for his first birdie of the round, pointing
to the hole as the ball disappeared.
Mickelson returned
to make another small run, but that was only for show.
This wasn't Woods
vs. Garcia, or even Woods vs. Mickelson.
He is playing only
against history at the moment, and even that looks like a mismatch.
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