Monday, March 26, 2001
Woods takes the lead into another
Monday finish
By DOUG FERGUSON
AP Golf Writer
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Storms
left the leaders only two hours of daylight to play Sunday, which
is all Tiger Woods needed to take the lead in The Players Championship.
Trailing untested Jerry Kelly by two strokes
when the rains finally subsided, Woods caught him with a birdie-eagle
start, chipping in from 90 feet, and then surged ahead with a
10-foot birdie putt on No. 9 when play was suspended.
The horn sounded as Woods was in the fairway,
but he elected to finish the hole. He punched a sand wedge into
birdie range and made the putt as darkness descended.
Woods, trying to capture the only prestigious
trophy he doesn't own, was at 12 under to lead Kelly and Masters
champion Vijay Singh by one stroke.
Bernhard Langer was another stroke back
on the 10th hole.
Rain pelted the Stadium Course right after
Woods and Kelly went out to the practice range, suspending the
final round for 2 hours, 52 minutes and leading to the second
straight year of a Monday finish.
By the look of it, the conclusion could
be just as thrilling.
A year ago, Hal Sutton built a three-stroke
lead before the rains came, returned on Monday and held off Woods
to win by one.
The cast of characters is a twice the size
this time.
Singh, in great form with his Masters defense
just two weeks away, had the lead until missing the ninth fairway
and taking bogey. Langer, who hasn't won in four years, was plugging
along with three birdies on a soft Sawgrass course and still in
position.
“I would have loved to play on because
I was feeling comfortable with my swing,” Singh said. “But
you can't do anything about it.”
Kelly, trying to become the first player
to earn his first tour victory in The Players Championship, wasn't
backing down, either.
Kelly said he would not be intimidated,
that Woods was just another player who had as much pressure —
if not more — to win the $6 million tournament. And he lived
up to those words.
Then again, Tiger lived up to his reputation.
When the gallery returned from the rain
delay and crammed into the amphitheater around the first tee,
it sounded like the start of a heavyweight fight.
Woods landed the first punch.
His approach from 155 yards didn't go an
inch past that, stopping 6 feet left of the hole for birdie. Kelly
came up short of the ridge and had to make a par putt from equal
distance.
Half of his two-stroke lead was gone after
one hole.
Next up was the 532-yard second hole, where
Kelly appeared to get the advantage when his snap hook went through
the rough and on top of the pine straw, enabling him to hit a
clear 3-wood to about 25 feet for an eagle putt.
Woods was left in the rough, couldn't reach
the green but left himself in a good spot to the right. Chipping
back toward a back-left pin some 90 feet away, the ball skipped
up the ridge and trickled in for eagle as the crowd roared.
Such was Woods' focus that he barely smiled,
tapping fists with caddie Steve Williams and walking to the cup
as if he had tapped in for par. Kelly two-putted for birdie and
shared the lead for the first time since late Friday morning.
Two holes later, even that was gone. Kelly
hit into the left rough and his approach toward the fat part of
the green narrowly cleared the creek guarding the greens. From
the top shelf, his putt ran past the hole onto the fringe, and
he took only his fourth bogey of the tournament.
Singh missed an 8-foot par putt on the third,
but recovered with birdies on three of the next four holes to
pull into a tie with Woods.
In another swift turn of events, Singh became
the third leader of the long final round when Woods' drive on
No. 7 went right into the trees, landing in a wet patch of sand
amid the straw. He caught a tree limb with his approach and dropped
into a bunker, blasted out to 15 feet and missed the par putt
to fall back to 11 under.
But he got it back, walking off the course
on a positive note. He returns Monday for the second straight
year, this time with the lead.
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