Saturday, February 3, 2001
Old times at Pebble —
Gogel contending, Woods chasing
By DOUG FERGUSON
AP Golf Writer
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. (AP) — The bad
memories of Pebble Beach are almost out of Matt Gogel's system.
When he returned in June for the U.S. Open,
he was reminded of the missed greens and blown opportunities that
led to his 40 on the back nine, which opened the door for a spectacular
comeback by Tiger Woods in the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.
“I thought about it more than I thought
I would,” he said.
Gogel is in position this weekend to bury
those memories for good.
A year after he became a mere footnote in
the growing legend of Woods, Gogel tied the course record at Poppy
Hills with a career-best 62 Friday that gave him a 3-stroke lead
in the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.
“It would be an awesome feeling,”
Gogel said when asked about the possibility of winning the tournament.
“But I've still got one more course to play in my rotation.
Then we'll worry about Sunday on Sunday.”
Right now, Woods is the least of his worries.
On a Poppy Hills course that's usually a
pushover to players with far less ability, Woods struggled with
all aspects of his game in a 1-over 73. It was the second time
in his last five rounds that he was over par.
“At least I broke 80,” he said.
He'll have to do better than that to keep
Gogel and a slew of other players in his range. Woods was at 5-under
139, eight strokes back with 18 players in front of him.
Woods' sprained left knee wasn't the problem,
it was the par 5s — five of them at Poppy Hills, which explains
why it's the easiest of the three courses in the rotation. He
bogeyed the first one and was fortunate to make par on the next
one.
He has never played Poppy Hills particularly
well, so it was no surprise that he let out a heavy sigh on his
13th hole and said, “It feels like Groundhog Day.”
Indeed, it seemed like last year never ended.
Gogel was back in the picture, a bogey-free
round of 62 in which none of his 10 birdies was longer than 20
feet.
He was at 131 and had a 3-stroke lead over
Masters champion Vijay Singh. A year ago, Singh was only 1 stroke
back going into the final round and finished in a tie for second
with Gogel, 2 strokes back.
Woods was 8 strokes behind after 36 holes,
the same position he was in last year.
Maybe it's just a coincidence that comedian
Bill Murray is back at Pebble Beach. He starred in the movie “Groundhog
Day” about a TV meteorologist who repeated the same day over
and over.
Gogel can only hope for a better outcome.
“It would be a heck of a story if it
continues this way,” he said. “But we're only halfway
through. It's a long way until Sunday.”
Gogel was in control last year, cruising
through the Cliffs of Dooms until he played the final eight holes
in 4 over, and Woods put together a comeback that ranks among
his best, an eagle-birdie-par-birdie finish.
Gogel has seen the replay of Woods' holing
that wedge shot from the fairway on No. 15 more times than he
would like. He also has reflected on his own mistakes, which haunted
him the rest of his rookie season.
After a nearly flawless round on another
gorgeous day, the 29-year-old golfer from Kansas has given himself
another chance.
“I was anxious to come back because
I love this place,” Gogel said. “It wasn't like I was
coming back for unfinished business.”
Singh, who wound up tied with Gogel, 2 strokes
behind Woods last year, also played Poppy and had a 68 to get
to 134.
The group at 135 included Kemper Open champion
Tom Scherrer and Frank Lickliter, who was 1 stroke behind the
late Payne Stewart after 54 holes two years ago and never got
a chance when the final round was washed out.
That shouldn't be a problem this year, not
with that stranger known as the sun gracing all three courses.
“This is the most sunshine we've seen
in the last five years, all packed into two days,” Lickliter
said after his 66 at Poppy Hills.
Phil Mickelson, who won Pebble Beach in
1998 when the final round was pushed back seven months to August,
had a 66 at Spyglass Hill and was at 8-under 136.
Gogel has 36 holes left to protect this
lead, but his game is holding up just fine. He has played his
last 31 holes without a bogey, and he did the one thing Woods
failed to do at Poppy Hills by taking advantage of the par 5s.
Gogel birdied all five of them, including
the 555-yard ninth hole for a 62. His previous best round was
a 63 in the third round at Las Vegas.
Woods didn't appear to be bothered by the
ligament he sprained in his left knee Wednesday when he collided
with an overzealous man seeking an autograph. Woods sprinted up
a steep slope left of the 12th green to see where his blind pitch
shot landed. It was 4 feet from the hole, and he saved his par
on the 531-yard hole.
But he never got it going, needing a birdie
on the last hole to avoid his worst score since his 75 in the
first round of the Masters last year.
“I never really felt comfortable,”
Woods said. “As much as I tried to grind it out and get in
the clubhouse, I never could hit the good shots when I needed
to.”
The consolation? He's far from out of it.
The example of that will forever be Pebble
Beach last year, when he showed that no lead is safe until he's
no longer on the course. And this time, he gets 36 holes —
not seven — to try to make up the deficit.
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