| AP Sports Headlines |
Saturday, July 20, 2002
By TIM DAHLBERG
AP Sports Writer
GULLANE, Scotland (AP) - Tiger Woods' chances of winning golf's Grand Slam evaporated in a shocking collapse Saturday in the cold rain and wind of the British Open. The world's best player hacked his way to a 10-over-par 81, the first time since he turned pro that he failed to break 80.
Woods hit ball after ball into knee-high rough, left a shot in a bunker, missed a short putt and generally had a day about as miserable as the conditions on the Muirfield links.
A day that began with Woods chasing the leaders and in contention for his third straight major championship ended with him looking at his ball in utter frustration on the 18th green after lipping out a 5-footer for birdie.
Woods shot 42 on the front nine, 39 on the back. He had two double bogeys and a lone birdie, on the 17th hole when he raised his arms then bowed in mock triumph after his putt went in.
"It just wasn't meant to be today," Woods said. "It was a tough and frustrating round but I tried all the way."
Instead of making a charge from two strokes behind at the beginning of the day, Woods was 10 shots off the lead held by Des Smyth, who was 4 under through 16 holes. When Woods finished, there were 65 players between him and the lead.
Almost everyone else struggled, too, as the rain and wind that had been missing from the Scottish coast returned with a vengeance just about the time the leaders were teeing off Saturday afternoon.
Colin Montgomerie shot an 84, the worst score of the day. It came after a second round 64, and the 20-stroke differential between rounds was the biggest in the history of the British Open.
But few struggled as bad as Woods, and no one had more to lose than the player who won the first two major championships of the season and came to Scotland poised to win his third.
Asked if his hopes of the Grand Slam were over, Woods said: "Yeah, probably. There are too many guys between me and the lead."
Still, Woods said he would regroup and try to make something happen in Sunday's final round.
"All I can do tomorrow is shoot a low number and see what happens," he said. "You never know."
From an opening tee shot that went way right into the deep heather, he made bogey on the first hole. He hit only one fairway on the front nine, when he was 6 over.
His frustration grew as his score mounted, and he could only look at the cup and sigh after missing a makable birdie putt on the ninth hole.
Things didn't get much better after the turn, where Woods left a shot in the bunker on the 13th hole and made double bogey, then missed a 3-footer on the next hole for another bogey.
Woods said he went through a dozen golf gloves trying to keep dry and thought it was sleeting when it wasn't because the rain was coming down so hard it hurt.
"It was just blowing so hard out there, it was difficult to stand. The ball was oscillating, the rain blowing. It was just tough, tough starting out," he said. "On top of that I just hit poor shots and you add that with the conditions _ you're not going to end up with good results."
Woods' worst score as a pro was a 79 in the Australian Open in 1996, and his worst score in a major came at the British Open at Royal Birkdale, where he shot a 77 in 1998.
At various times, Woods slammed his club to the ground, looked at shots in disbelief and seemed to completely lose the focus that had won him seven of the previous 11 major championships.
It was a tough day for the other leaders, too. Five players started the day 6 under, but 3 under was leading midway through the third round.
Nick Price was one of the few players to manage par on the front nine, and it took an eagle on the ninth hole to do that. Price was at 4 under and had a one-shot lead at the turn before making a bogey on the 10th hole
It looked, though, like players who finished early _ before the wind picked up and rain began falling heavily _ would have the upper hand by the end of the day.
That included Justin Leonard and Justin Rose, who both shot 68 and were both safely in the clubhouse at 2 under when the leaders teed off, and Sergio Garcia, who ran into the heaviest rain and wind on the back nine but still shot a 71 and was also at 2 under.
Woods dropped five shots to par over the first six holes.
On the 10th hole, after finding the deep rough once again, he slammed his club to the ground after hacking a ball out of the rough.
Woods uncharacteristically seemed to be among the most affected by the bad conditions.
He said only a day earlier that he wanted the wind to blow to help spread out the leaderboard. It did, but he was among the casualties.
Phil Mickelson shot himself out of contention with a second straight 76 that left him at 7 over. Mickelson finished 2-3-2 in the last three majors, but barely made the cut in this one even after opening with a 69.
"I just haven't
played well and I've had a difficult week," Mickelson said.
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