Friday, December
6, 2002
Steady play gives
Furyk the lead
By DOUG FERGUSON
AP Golf Writer
THOUSAND OAKS, Calif.
(AP) - Jim Furyk had a boring round compared to Tiger Woods and
Davis Love III, which was fine by him Thursday in the Target World
Challenge.
While both Woods
and Love went eight consecutive holes without a par, Furyk picked
his spots at Sherwood Country Club and avoided costly mistakes
on his way to an 8-under 64 to take a one-stroke lead.
Nick Price and Padraig
Harrington were at 65 after playing without a bogey, which was
the best way to move up the leaderboard _ and stay there _ on
a perfect day for scoring.
"You can make
a bunch of birdies, but it's also a course where you can make
a bunch of mistakes," Furyk said. "If you can eliminate
those bad holes, which is difficult, you can shoot a really low
round."
That's what stopped
Woods (68) and Love (66).
Woods, the tournament
host and defending champion of the $3.8 million exhibition, reached
the 15th hole and looked over at a large scoreboard.
"You have to
shoot 10 under just to keep up," he said under his breath.
Instead, he was running
in place, answering every birdie with a bogey, and vice versa.
After a par on the
opening hole, Woods didn't make another par until he missed a
5-foot birdie putt on the 10th.
He really got it
going in the middle of his front nine with four straight birdies
that pulled him within two strokes of the lead, then hit into
the hazard off the ninth tee and had to get up-and-down for a
bogey.
"They were absolutely
perfect conditions. Just look at the board," Woods said,
noting that only four players in the 16-man field failed to shoot
par or better. "You just knew you had to take it low today."
The good news?
"I didn't shoot
myself out of the tournament," he said.
Neither did Love,
who had the most entertaining round of them all with nine birdies
and an eagle. His problem was Love had only four pars.
Good day or bad day?
"I like making
that many birdies," Love said. "If you miss it any place
on this golf course, you can make a big number."
His biggest came
at the par-3 15th, when his ball came up just short in a mixture
of grass and rocks. Love had a decent lie, but was worried about
hitting the rocks with his club and wound up advancing the ball
only a few inches. He wound up with a double bogey.
"I should have
gotten it out," he said. "I just chickened out of the
shot."
It's hard to blame
a guy for not wanting to get injured, not in a tournament that
pays $1 million to the winner and $130,000 for last place. And
not with the start of the 2003 PGA Tour season _ the money that
counts _ only a month away.
The other secret
to low scoring was lack of sleep.
Furyk, Price and
Harrington _ the top three guys on the leaderboard _ were all
in South Africa last week for the Nedbank Challenge.
"I knocked some
of the rust off," Furyk said.
He played with Chris
DiMarco, who knocked the ball all over Sherwood _ eight birdies
to go with a bogey and a double bogey that put him at 67 with
David Toms and Retief Goosen.
Phil Mickelson played
the par 5s even par _ two bogeys and an eagle when he hit a 6-iron
for his second shot on the 522-yard 11th hole. He was at 68, and
gets to play with Woods on Friday.
After going 18 months
without playing together, this will be the fifth time in their
last eight rounds that Woods and Mickelson _ Nos. 1 and 2 in the
world _ get to spend quality time inside the ropes.
That means more cameras,
which isn't good news for Woods.
On Sunday in the
Skins Game, a man without media credentials clicked a camera during
his swing out of a bunker on the final hole with $200,000 on the
line. Caddie Steve Williams removed the camera and dropped it
into a lake.
On Thursday, a photographer
clicked as Woods stood over a 6-foot eagle putt. He paused but
didn't yell, and missed the putt.
"It was early
enough that I was OK," he said. "I just misread it."
Williams didn't heave
the camera into the Sherwood forest, he simply asked the photographer
in a strong voice not to do it again.
Woods says he has
license to get angry over such incidents, even in the hit-and-giggle
time of the year. It's just that it was Thursday, not a final
round.
"The 18th hole
is a different story," he said.
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