Woods finally proves he can play as a normal
pro does
By Michael Tackett
Chicago Tribune
BETHESDA, Md. - The grade Tiger Woods should have given himself
after his play in the U.S. Open: an incomplete.
He put caution in a vault during the third round, trying for
spectacular shots when plodding pars would have positioned him
better. On Sunday, it seemed something even more important had
been put in storage - his confidence, especially on the greens.
The fullness of his game, which had allowed him to overrun the
field at the Masters, rarely was on display at Congressional Country
Club.
Finally, he proved himself capable of normalcy, a state of
play that many of his grumbling colleagues knew would come someday
in a game remarkable for its fickleness and fate. Nobody plays
well every time out, and certainly not in every major tournament.
Woods won't win the Grand Slam this year. And the game is safe
from extinction due to lack of competition.
"That course wore me out," said Woods of the longest
layout in U.S. Open history, where his own prodigious driving
length proved more liability than asset. "I hit some bad
shots and it took its toll on me. ... It humbled me, humbled me
big-time."
The Open did provide fresh evidence of the enormous range of
Woods' popularity, regardless of how he is playing. He continued
to draw huge, noisy and diverse galleries even as he dropped further
back from the leaders.
Two men who work for a greenskeeping company were there in
their uniforms Sunday, cheering for him. Far more cameras were
trained on Woods than on President Clinton, out to watch on a
sunny, resplendent Father's Day.
Woods was paired with the taciturn Nick Faldo, whose intensity
and ego know few equals. Faldo kept a 40-paces distance from Woods
throughout, striding well ahead of him on the fairways, often
walking to the next tee before Woods had finished putting. A marshal
walking with the pair, noting Faldo's demeanor, said it might
be a "cold walk" for Woods.
On the front nine, this day, anyway, Faldo had the mental edge.
Woods would stare at the sky after an errant shot or a missed
putt. Faldo, after blading one wedge over the green and into the
water on No. 6 and dumping another to make the fringe, stood over
his putt and made a 30-footer. But Faldo ultimately would collapse
horribly.
Ever testy, Faldo complained bitterly that the crush of media
that follows Woods forced tournament officials to order the pair
to speed up play.
"We paid (the price) for the media," Faldo said.
"We lost five minutes. They made us catch it up. That's my
official statement, that's it."
Woods was more loquacious, but his putter failed him repeatedly.
Said one of his fans, after Woods bogeyed No. 3: "Time to
go watch Tom Lehman." The remark would gain accuracy as Woods
had two bogeys and six putts on the next two holes, and that quickly,
he had extinguished his chances of winning.
"I putted horribly," said Woods, who didn't three-putt
a green at Augusta.
When a birdie putt finally dropped for him, it was on the par-3
12th, and Woods simply chuckled and shook his head. When he got
his second birdie, on the par-4 16th, Clinton was there to cheer
for him from a private tent near the green. Woods said later he
wasn't even aware of Clinton's presence.
"It was the only putt I made all week," Woods said.
(c) 1997, Chicago Tribune.
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