Saturday, July 22, 2000
He never gives them an option
By JIM LITKE
AP Sports Writer
ST. ANDREWS, Scotland (AP) - They're tired
of talking about Tiger Woods. He doesn't give them an option.
High or low on golf's food chain, well-known
or unknown, even after the best round of their lives, it's always
the same question: What about Tiger?
Nothing changed Saturday at the British
Open. Woods coaxed five birdies out of a seven-hole stretch for
a 67, piling one more masterful round on top of the two he'd already
wrested from the Old Course.
It made everyone else's day seem like an
afterthought. Nine guys started the third round within five strokes
of Woods and all but one shot even-par or better. The group included
established stars Ernie Els and Tom Lehman and household names
only in their own homes, Steve Flesch and David Toms.
None of it made a difference. They played
their hearts out and lost ground.
"I look at the board and I'm just getting
lapped," Tom Lehman said. "It's just no fun."
Only Els escaped having to answer the obligatory
Tiger question, and that's because he blew by reporters on his
way from the 18th green to the parking lot.
Playing a few groups ahead of Woods, David
Duval threw down a 66. Fresh off his climb up the leaderboard,
he walked into the interview room and knew immediately what was
coming. Dutifully, Duval went along.
"Nobody has stepped up and played with
him," he said.
Come Sunday, Duval won't have a choice -
his 10-under puts in the final pairing with Woods. If he thought
his chances were slim entering the room, imagine how Duval felt
when he heard Woods had made two more birdies before he could
get out the door.
Nick Faldo, who owns six major championships,
came to St. Andrews with a resurgent game. Ten years ago, the
Englishman delivered one of the most crushing performances ever
in a major. Playing the Old Course on cruise control, Faldo hit
all but two fairways and three greens, and landed in just one
of the more than 100 bunkers. His 18 under was the best ever in
relation to par at a British Open.
It was a record Faldo thought might last
until the end of his career. He is preparing to hand it over,
Faldo grumbled, "sometime tomorrow afternoon."
And he advised anyone holding any other
significant mark to get ready to do the same.
"They aren't going to last long,"
Faldo said. "He's just going to go and blitz them all."
Faldo admitted his hopes of keeping that
record were bolstered once Jack Nicklaus was no longer winning
majors. No longer.
"Tiger is mentally strong, I'd say
stronger than Jack at the moment," Faldo said. "I think
he's better than Jack when you think of all the attention he has
to deal with."
Three years ago, even after Woods treated
Augusta National like the muni down the block, Faldo's assessment
would have been heresy. And he might have been uncomfortable saying
it as recently as last month, even after Woods clobbered Pebble
Beach and the U.S. Open field by a record 15.
But no more.
Even Nicklaus is thinking about joining
the chorus.
"The fact that Tiger is coming along
doesn't bother me in the least," Nicklaus said a day earlier,
bidding farewell to the course where he won two of his three British
Opens.
"I'm kind of rooting for somebody to
come along and if it's Tiger, fine. Or if it's somebody else to
challenge my record of 18 majors or break it, or whatever, I think
it would be good for the game of golf."
At the moment, what's good for Woods is
all that seems to matter. Golf has never drawn bigger crowds,
something that was evident from the record numbers lining the
fairways of the game's grandest venue. The Scots might be unaccustomed
to watching golf filtered through three straight days of sunshine,
but they haven't lost their keen eye for the game.
When Woods' streak of 63 consecutive holes
of championship golf without a bogey ended Saturday at No. 2,
it was greeted with a knowing murmur. Because the audience knew
what was next.
Woods didn't disappoint. He birdied No.
3 and stretched a new streak to 14 before a second bogey on the
17th.
"I made a couple mess-ups on the card,"
Woods said, "but overall it was a pretty good day."
Frankly, it's getting harder for his opponents
to imagine a day bad enough to make Woods cough up a lead. He
is 18-2 worldwide carrying one into the final round.
Darren Clarke is one of the few guys to
beat Woods head-to-head, something he managed in the final of
the Match Play Championship. Yet when he finished off a 68 to
get to 9 under, someone asked whether he was ready to concede
the tournament to Woods.
"Absolutely not," said Clarke,
considering a new tack. "I'm bigger than he is."
---
Jim Litke is the national sports columnist
for The Associated Press. Write to him at jlitkeap.org
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