Saturday, June 17, 2000
Fog lifts to reveal a beastly
side of Pebble Beach
By DOUG FERGUSON
AP Golf Writer
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. (AP) - The fog lifted
over Pebble Beach on Friday and revealed the passing of a generation
- Jack Nicklaus limping home in his final U.S. Open, Tiger Woods
breezing along on a brutally tough day.
Nicklaus bid an emotional and unforgettable
farewell to 44 years in the toughest championship in golf, giving
an adoring gallery one last thrill by lashing a 3-wood into a
Pacific breeze and reaching the 545-yard 18th hole in two shots.
Nine minutes later, Woods stuck a peg in
the ground and stayed on course for a chance to win his first
U.S. Open.
With birdies on three of his first seven
holes, including a stunning shot out of the rough that climbed
over the ocean and a cypress tree and onto the green, Woods made
the turn in 34 and built a two-shot lead over Miguel Angel Jimenez.
Nicklaus three-putted for par and signed
for an 82, his worst score ever in 160 U.S. rounds dating to 1957.
"It's been a great run of tournaments,"
Nicklaus said, his blue eyes glistening as he tried to hold back
the tears.
Pebble Beach made others break down Friday,
but for a different reason.
The sea breeze that finally shooed away
the fog also brought out the beast in Pebble Beach, its fickle
winds that helped produce a hazy yellow hue on greens, turning
them into crusty parcels on concrete.
"You could hear the greens yelling,
'I'm thirsty!'" said Lee Janzen, who had at 73 for a 2-over
144 total.
Greg Norman went eight straight holes with
a bogey or worse for an 82, his worst U.S. Open round since an
83 in the third round at Oakmont in 1983. He missed the cut for
the third straight time.
So did Davis Love III (75-79), for just
the third time in his career.
None of this seem to faze Woods, who rolled
in an 18-foot par putt on No. 2 and followed that with a 20-foot
birdie on the third hole to get to 7 under, two strokes clear
of Jimenez.
He made his first bogey of the championship
on the par-3 fifth, and showed a slight chink when his next drive
sailed right into the rough. But Woods ripped an iron over Stillwater
Cove and onto the green, setting up a two-putt from 15 feet for
birdie.
He also birdied the 106-yard seventh from
10 feet, but was scooting along through the Cliffs of Dooms with
minimal damage.
All corners of the globe were trying to
catch him.
Jimenez, the Spaniard whom Woods beat in
a playoff at Valderrama in November, made par on the first five
holes and remained at 5 under.
Angel Cabrera of Argentina also was bogey-free
through seven holes and was another stroke back, followed by Thomas
Bjorn of Denmark and Tom Lehman at 2 under.
No one else could made a move.
Despite fog that hugged the coastline overnight
and well into the morning, the greens had virtually no moisture
and the field had almost no chance. By late afternoon, only three
players had managed to break par.
"I felt like I was playing with a marble
out on the pool table," Nicklaus said. "If you're not
quite on your game, it eats you alive every time."
Kirk Triplett made a brief run, but he landed
on the beach below the 10th hole and into the shin-deep rough
on the 13th hole, both times making bogey. A brilliant start still
led to a 71, and he was the early clubhouse leader after 36 holes
at 1-under 141.
Three-time Masters and British Open champion
Nick Faldo stubbornly tried to hang around the lead until he missed
too many greens and failed to hole enough putts. He finished with
a 74 for 1-over 143.
Their only hope was that Pebble Beach treated
Woods with the same indignation. Woods opened with a 6-under 65,
the lowest U.S. Open round ever at Pebble Beach, before fog suspended
the first round on Thursday.
Nicklaus saved his best for last, soaking
in the beauty of Pebble Beach one last time. He figured it had
been 20 years since he tried to reach the 18th green in two, but
turned to his oldest son Jackie, his caddie, and said, "Why
not?"
He ripped his drive past the pine tree in
the middle and hit a 3-wood for all it was worth. The ball hopped
onto the front of the green, and the gallery rose to their feet
and let out a roar.
"It's difficult coming up the last
fairway, knowing it will probably be the last time you're going
to come up the U.S. Open fairway," Nicklaus said. "It's
been a big part of my life."
Back in the fairway, Tom Watson stopped
and applauded as Nicklaus was on the green.
For most of the day, Woods' biggest battle
was with boredom. Nearly 30 hours passed between his final putt
for birdie on Thursday and his first tee shot Friday afternoon,
thanks to the heavy fog that suspended play in the first round.
Seventy-five players had to return at 6:45
a.m., then waiting another 90 minutes for the fog to finally lift.
Among them was Ted Tryba, who couldn't believe what he saw - or
felt - when he got back on the course.
"We had moisture on the green last
night with the fog and everything, but they're twice as firm,"
Ted Tryba said. "Go figure."
Go figure Woods.
He treated Pebble the same he did four months
ago, when he came from seven strokes back over his last seven
holes to win the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.
Masters champion Vijay Singh had a 73 and
was still in the picture at 1-over 143. No one since Faldo in
1990 has finished in the top 10 in a U.S. Open after winning the
green jacket.
Fred Couples (75) bogeyed two of the last
three holes to finish at 145, along with Watson.
Another senior tour star, Hale Irwin, capped
off a 68 in the morning but limped home with a 78 and was at 146.
"The greens," Irwin said, shaking
his head. "I'm not going to say they're impossible, but they're
close."
Another stroke back was Colin Montgomerie
(74) and two-time Open champion Ernie Els (73). Whether they have
a chance on the weekend depended on Woods.
The 24-year-old, playing his 100th professional
tournament in the 100th U.S. Open, had a chance to succumb to
the torturous conditions - or take a huge step toward become the
first wire-to-wire U.S. Open champion since the late Payne Stewart
at Hazeltine in 1991.
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