Saturday, June 17, 2000
Woods leads by six shots, Nicklaus
bids farewell at U.S. Open
By ROB GLOSTER
AP Sports Writer
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. (AP) - Tiger Woods
was on the verge of making history at the U.S. Open.
Woods completed the second round Saturday
at 8-under 134, giving him a six-stroke lead over players who
had finished the round. If that six-shot lead held up when the
second round was completed, it would be an Open record.
Woods went into the clubhouse with a six-shot
margin over Thomas Bjorn, who was at 2-under 140. Still on the
course playing his second round was Miguel Angel Jimenez, who
had dropped four shots Saturday and fallen to 2 under.
The record for a second-round lead at the
Open is five strokes by Willie Anderson at Baltusrol in 1903.
"I wouldn't say it's exciting, it's
grinding," Woods said. "You're working very hard to
keep your emotions in check out there."
Woods had six birdies and four bogeys in
his second round, which began late Friday and ended on a misty,
mild Saturday morning. Fog delays on Thursday and Friday forced
the scheduling backup.
After the cut was made, Woods and the rest
of the field were scheduled to play the third round later Saturday.
"I'm going to get something to eat,"
Woods said after completing the second round. "I'm hungry
right now. And I'll let my mind ease up a bit, because I know
it's going to be a long afternoon."
Meanwhile Jack Nicklaus, a four-time Open
winner, appeared to have made a poignant farewell to the tournament.
Nicklaus shot an 11-over 82 in the second round Friday, leaving
him at 13-over 155 at the midway point and unlikely to make the
cut. He was saluted by fans and fellow players in his 44th consecutive
Open.
Nicklaus, 60, who won a duel with Arnold
Palmer to capture the 1972 Open title at Pebble Beach and also
won a U.S. Amateur championship on this course, finished the first
round at 2-over 73 but knew by the end of the second round that
he was almost certain to miss the cut.
When he got to the 18th hole, Nicklaus turned
to his son and caddy and decided to go out with a flourish by
trying to reach the 545-yard hole in two shots.
"I turned to Jackie and I said, `You
know, I have not tried to knock it on the green in over 20 years,
so let's see if we can knock it on in two today,'" Nicklaus
said. "And lo and behold, it went on to the putting surface."
Though he ended up three-putting and settling
for a par, Nicklaus got a hero's welcome from the crowd.
"It's been a great run of tournaments
since I was 17 years old," Nicklaus said. "It's been
a long time and a lot of Opens, and it's been great."
Nine minutes after Nicklaus walked off the
18th green, Woods began his second round in a tournament that
is turning into his coronation. He began the round with a one-stroke
lead, and built his margin to three shots with a 30-foot birdie
at the par-3 12th hole just as darkness halted play Friday.
Woods thrust his right arm into the air
to celebrate the birdie on his final shot of the day. It moved
him to 9 under, three shots better than Jimenez.
Woods increased his margin Saturday, rolling
in a four-foot birdie putt at the par-4 15th while Jimenez was
struggling.
At the 18th, Woods showed he was fallible,
hitting his tee shot onto the slippery rocks along the ocean.
He took a one-stroke penalty and teed off again, and was able
to finish the hole with just a bogey.
"I hit a really poor shot," he
said. "But I stepped up there, collected my thoughts and
hit a second shot like I intended the first one to be."
Woods, playing his 100th professional tournament
in the centennial U.S. Open, is trying to become the first wire-to-wire
Open champion since the late Payne Stewart at Hazeltine in 1991.
But he said it was far too early to compare
this tournament to his record 12-stroke victory in the 1997 Masters.
"There's a long way to go," Woods
said. "This golf course is a lot more demanding than Augusta
was."
The fog that suspended play Thursday and
held up the resumption of play for 90 minutes Friday forced two
rounds to be played simultaneously Friday. Nicklaus and 74 other
golfers had to complete their first round before immediately beginning
the second.
Dozens of players were still on the course
completing their first round when the second round began, as players
scrambled to make up for lost time.
When the fog finally lifted, sunshine and
a brisk wind made the course hard and fast. Scores skyrocketed
for everyone except Woods.
"I felt like I was playing with a marble
out on the pool table. I couldn't keep anything on the green,"
Nicklaus said. "If you're not quite on your game, it eats
you alive every time."
By the time Woods teed off in the late afternoon,
the greens were like concrete. But that did little to faze Woods,
who rolled in an 18-foot par putt at No. 2 and a 20-foot birdie
at the third hole. Birdies followed at holes 6, 7, 11 and 12.
Bogeys at Nos. 5 and 9 were his first of the tournament.
Other golfers did not fare as well.
Kirk Triplett made a brief run at the lead
with birdies on four of the first eight holes of his second round,
moving to 5 under. But he had two double-bogeys on the back nine,
and ended the day at 1-under 141.
Hale Irwin, a senior tour star and the 1990
Open winner, completed a first round of 68 Friday but shot 78
in the second round for a 4-over 146 total.
"The greens. I'm not going to say they're
impossible, but they're close," Irwin said, shaking his head.
Greg Norman went eight straight holes with
a bogey or worse in the second round for an 82, and was almost
certain to miss the cut with a two-round total of 17-over 159.
|
