Tiger close to perfect; could have been better
By JIM LITKE / AP Sports Writer
TROON, Scotland (AP) - The scary thing is that he could have
been better.
Tiger Woods knew it.
His gallery knew it.
His opponents knew it.
Even the bookies - make that, especially the bookies - knew
it, too.
When Woods strolled onto the first tee alongside Royal Troon's
ancient clubhouse on a warm, shimmering Saturday he looked, if
not completely out of the championship picture, at least somewhere
along the edge.
He was 13 shots out of the lead, but far from forgotten. He
was still a 25-1 choice to win the British Open. And no one had
to wait long to be reminded why: He is still Tiger Woods.
The kid cracked the driver down the left side, gouged a sand
wedge from the hay to 18 inches for birdie, and he was an even
dozen shots out of the lead. At the 391-yard second, it was 4-iron,
sand wedge to 25 feet, one putt - 11 shots out. At the 557-yard
fourth, it was driver, 8-iron from the left rough to 30 feet,
two putts - 10 shots and counting.
Woods' blistering pace, over one of the most fearsome layouts
on the British Isles, was not without one stumble on each side.
But when he was through shedding strokes like a chef working over
an onion, what remained was a course record-tying 64.
Unfortunately, he had precious little time to savor it. Woods
had just finished signing his scorecard when someone asked him
if he could go lower still. He answered from behind a mischievous
grin.
"I think so."
He may have to, since Sweden's Jesper Parnevik went out four
hours later and shot 66. That hiked the bar from 9-under, where
Darren Clarke had set it after two rounds, to 11-under going into
Sunday. Woods begins the final round eight shots back, the same
number Jack Burke Jr. made up to complete the greatest comeback
in major championship history and win the 1956 Masters.
Can Tiger go lower?
"I can go lower if you take out my two bogeys," Woods
said, beginning with the obvious.
"Today was one of those days where I got a lot of good
breaks and I made a lot of putts. You can't make all the putts,
but I definitely made my share within 15 feet. Those are the things
you have to do to go lower," he added.
Of course, there was a little more to it than that.
Woods' round of 64 included the standard number of 300-plus
yard tee shots. But the best ball he hit all day with the driver
was the one he absolutely nailed on his second shot from the fairway
at the 542-yard, par-5 16th to set up an eagle from 15 feet. He
also got a favorable kick when his tee ball at No. 7 bounced off
5-year-old Vanessa Black's face. Competitor that he is, Woods
immediately took advantage of the break by lobbing a sand wedge
to 12 feet for another birdie.
"I don't know if it hit her on the fly, or if it one-hopped
or two-hopped," he said. "I just know that it hit her,
kicked down to the left, and I made birdie."
Woods said he couldn't find the little girl to apologize in
person. Not wanting to seem too ruthless, he added quickly, "I
had the rules official give her the ball that hit her and apologize."
That may have been the only shot he had to apologize for all
day. He needed an exceptional up-and-down from 71 yards to save
bogey at No. 11. But the longest of his four par-saving putts
was 10 feet, and only one of his birdies came on a putt longer
than 12 feet. He did confess to catching a break when his bump-and-run
pitch from 30 feet dove into the hole at 17. But he said it was
only a slight break at that.
"I carried it 3 inches past the spot I was aiming at,
but the slope was so severe there, it didn't matter," Woods
said.
The first time his name appeared on the leaderboard at this
tournament came moments later.
Woods walked up the 18th fairway to find the stands on either
side packed and rocking with appreciation for the kind of golf
everyone had expected two days earlier. Behind the green, behind
the huge clubhouse windows, he could see Royal Troon's members
rising out of their chairs, their applause lost in the growing
roar.
He putted out, collected his ball and moved off to one side
of the green. There, Woods poked the green with his club several
times, then smacked the side of his shoe with it, talking to himself
all the while. It was hard to make out the words, but not the
sentiment behind them:
It could have been even better.
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