Friday, July 7, 2000
Woods' rusty 70 ominous for
Western field
By Rick Morrissey
Chicago Tribune
CHICAGO — There is a cement-making
operation across the street from the 13th hole at Cog Hill.
Because Dubsdread is a public course and
not a private club with pull, it was business as usual Thursday
at the plant, even as the Advil Western Open began. Spectators
and players alike were kept apprised of important events over
the company intercom, including the declaration that someone named
Pete had a call on line two. The hissing and clanking of machinery
and the beeping of trucks in reverse went on unmindful of anyone
in mid-backswing.
It all sounded a little like Tiger Woods'
game Thursday, if it ever can be said that his game hisses and
clanks. He shot a 2-under 70, and it speaks to what he has become
and where he is going that it was disappointing. Of course, it
also had about as much meaning as toe jam.
This is his tournament, this is his time,
he's seven shots behind and what of it? Thursdays to Woods are
like Thursdays to NFL players. What they lack in drama, they make
up for in sheer boredom. Wake him when it's the back nine Sunday.
Woods' drive on the par-4 13th hole ended
up in the sand, though at least not in wet cement, and he settled
for a par. That was life for Tiger on Thursday. It also was just
a blip in “Who Wants to Be a Billionaire?” the new show
with the single contestant.
“He'll wake up just now,” Nick
Price said. “He's probably having a little snooze at the
moment.”
Price tied a course and tournament record
with a 63, probably should have shot 60 and still had to talk
about the perils of waking a sleeping Tiger. That's because Price
and everyone else out here knows it's not a tournament until Tiger
says it is, and on the first day Woods didn't say much one way
or the other about whether he'll let the other guys play on Sunday.
This is his first tournament since ruining
the U.S. Open two weeks ago for all the pros who had the quaint
notion that they might have a chance. He said after Thursday's
round that the layoff had no effect on his game, but let's just
say a few drops of Rust-Oleum would not have been a bad idea.
His pinpoint accuracy was more like somewhere-in-the-vicinity
accuracy.
“I was ready to go,” Woods said.
“This is why I take as much time off as I do. When I come
back I want to be 100 percent. I was able to do that today, but
unfortunately, the score didn't reflect that.”
This came on a day custom-made for low scores.
It was warm, but not warm enough to hold a wet golf-shirt contest.
There was enough breeze to cool skin without misdirecting golf
balls. But things still happened. On the second hole, Woods had
to step away from a 3-foot putt when a bug bit him in the shoulder.
Then he missed. Who says golf isn't a contact sport?
“This course could be had today,”
Woods said wistfully.
That's what most of the spectators came
to see, Woods having his way with Cog Hill. It didn't happen,
but it probably will, in the same way that it will probably be
hot and humid in Chicago someday soon. Woods has won this tournament
two out of the last three years. Any concerns that the Western
Open will cave in to corporate bucks and change its name to the
Advil Open are groundless, though “Tiger Woods Plays the
Western Open” remains a possibility.
The crowds following Woods were, as usual,
huge, never mind that he teed off at 8:06 a.m. Two-time U.S. Open
champion Lee Janzen was in the same group, but he might as well
have been a barricade, he was so in the way. In the best moment
of the day, fans waiting for Woods after his round began booing
reporters for cutting into their autograph time. I'd like to think
it was sleep deprivation.
Cog Hill is home for Woods, and he says
it's more than just a place to crash between the U.S. Open and
the British Open. This is the course where fans broke through
the ropes in 1997 and followed him up the 18th fairway on his
way to victory.
“You always feel comfortable on a golf
course where you've won,” he said. “You look out there
and each and every tee shot fits your eye.”
Two words and one hyphen for the rest of
the Western field: Uh-oh.
(c) 2000, Chicago Tribune.
Visit the Chicago Tribune on the Internet at http://www.chicago.tribune.com/
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
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