Sunday, April 9, 2000
Tiger, Love blow into contention
in Masters
By DOUG FERGUSON
AP Golf Writer
AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) - Tiger Woods and Davis
Love III made their moves on the course. Then they ducked out
of the powerful wind and watched just about everyone else move
back to them on a wicked day at the Masters.
When the third round was suspended as darkness
fell over Augusta National, Vijay Singh was standing tall - no
small feat in gusts up to 42 mph.
With pine cones and limbs strewn all over
the course, Singh managed to forge ahead with two birdies when
the conditions were at their worst. He was at 7 under with three
holes to play and had a three-stroke lead over David Duval when
they trudged off the course shivering.
They will return at 8:15 Sunday morning
to finish the third round, then strap in for what could be a thrilling,
torturous conclusion to the 64th Masters.
"I've never seen a day like this before,"
Jack Nicklaus said after his worst score in 155 rounds at Augusta,
an 81 that ended his faint dreams of a seventh green jacket. "This
is by far the toughest."
The leaders were forced to play in wind
that blew 30 mph, and gusted even stronger, with temperatures
that dropped below 50.
"It's the coldest I've been in a long
time, not even in the British Open," said Ernie Els, who
was at 3 over. "We got a bad break playing when we did."
That wasn't the case for Woods and Love,
who have a chance to pull off the greatest comeback in Masters
history.
Despite a storm that stopped play for two
hours and interrupted his run of four straight birdies, Woods
fired back at the naysayers who thought he had no chance. He had
a 4-under 68 and was at 215, primed to pounce in the final round.
"A lot of people said I'm out of it,"
Woods said with a broad smile. "I'm not out of it."
Neither is Love, who swears he will not
be shaken by Woods' presence on the leaderboard this time around.
He also had a 68 and was at 215.
"I came here to win," he said.
"So did a lot of other guys. I want to win this one very
badly."
Joining them was Mike Weir of Canada, who
almost didn't make it to Augusta until his wife gave birth to
their first child on Tuesday. He had the best round of the early
finishers, a 2-under 70 under a constant, howling wind.
"My round today feels like a 65,"
Weir said. "I have as good a shot as anybody."
The largest 36-hole comeback was eight strokes
by Jack Burke Jr. in 1956. Woods and Love started the third round
nine strokes back, and made up ground quickly - first on the course,
then in the clubhouse.
"The whole idea today was to get to
even par, and lucky if I got to under par," Woods said.
The wind, so strong it caused a branch the
size of a golf club to stick in the 18th fairway, took care of
the rest. Only eight players remained under par, and all of them
will have a chance in a final round expected to feature similar
conditions.
Of course, that depends on Singh.
"Vijay was the only one who handled
it," Els said.
Singh, the 1998 PGA Champion who has never
finished better than 10th in the Masters, was 2 under for his
round.
"I deal with the weather pretty good,"
said Singh, who is from Fiji in the South Pacific. "That
was one of the coldest rounds I've played in a long time."
Loren Roberts, a short hitter taking advantage
of course changes that put a premium on driving, finished off
a 1-under 71 and was the clubhouse leader at 213.
Duval, the 36-hole leader, was hanging on
for dear life.
He three-putted for bogey on the third hole
and missed a 2-footer for birdie on the seventh. Then, disaster
struck.
The wind shifted as his ball was in flight
on the par-3 12th, and it came down short onto the slope and into
the water for a double bogey.
"I hit the same club as probably a
lot of people," Duval said. "I just happened to catch
a gust of wind that was not favorable for me, so it's my back
luck."
Duval fought back, with a birdie on the
par-5 13th and then a brilliant chip to inches for par on the
14th. He was at 4 under, in the fairway on the 15th when he marked
his ball.
"I feel like I've played 14 holes,
and two shots on 15, and didn't hit a bad shot yet," Duval
said. "Under the circumstances, I felt I played pretty well."
Duval wasn't the only one who suffered.
Els, the two-time U.S. Open champion, failed
to make birdie on his 15 holes and was at 3 under. Phil Mickelson
made five bogeys on the front nine and had to make a hard par
off the pine straw on 15 to stay at 2 under.
Singh cruised along, seemingly oblivious
to the troubles of everyone else.
After missing the 11th green to the left
for bogey that dropped him into a share of the lead, Singh made
a 6-foot birdie on the 12th. He then hit the shot of the day,
a wedge that caught the slope and made a track for the hole, grazing
the bottom of the cup.
Augusta National can have a mind of its
own, and it seemed to shine favorably on Woods amid the rain and
shifting winds.
The wind began to whip not long after Woods
signed his card, and there were indications that 215 would be
closer to the lead than he imagined.
"The flags were blowing so loud, it
sounded like someone shooting a gun out there," Love said.
Woods fired a pretty loud shot of his own.
After saving a tough par on No. 4, he got
it going with four straight birdies starting on No. 7, no putt
longer than about 12 feet.
Then came the siren to suspend play.
"I wish I could have kept going,"
Woods said. "I had the rhythm of the round, the flow of my
swing, a feeling in my body."
Still, he was right where he wanted to be
- in the clubhouse, a score posted and his name on the leaderboard
for everyone to think about.
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