Friday, October 27, 2000
After six-week break, Tiger
still on top
By DOUG FERGUSON
AP Golf Writer
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — Six weeks
later, not much has changed. Those watching Tiger Woods wondered
whether he would shoot 59, and those trying to beat him wondered
whether this tournament would end like so many others.
Woods returned to the PGA Tour for the first
time since Sept. 10 and promptly birdied the first five holes
before settling for a 9-under 63, giving him a share of the lead
Thursday with Steve Flesch in the National Car Rental Classic
at Disney World.
“You just expect the fact that he's
going to play well every week, because he doesn't give you any
reason to think otherwise,” Flesch said.
Already a nine-time winner this year, including
the last three majors, Woods got off to a torrid start in his
bid for a fourth straight victory.
He missed only one green, took only 25 putts
and felt like he left a few shots out on the Palm Course. Still,
the bogey-free 63 was his lowest first round this year, and his
40th consecutive round at par or better on the PGA Tour.
“Any time you start off with five straight
birdies and you have 13 holes left, you feel like you can really
do some damage,” Woods said. “It's hard to be disappointed
with a 63. But again, if you're a little greedy, I could have
made a couple here and there.”
Mike Springer, trying desperately to avoid
another trip to Q-school, also birdied his first five holes and
wound up with a 64, along with Bill Glasson.
The group at 65 included Carlos Franco and
Bob May, who played with Woods for the first time since their
dramatic duel at the PGA Championship, where both had a 31 on
the back nine Sunday and Woods outlasted him in a three-hole playoff.
“Tiger brings out the best in me,”
May said. “If he gets it going like he did today, hopefully
you get towed along.”
That's about what happened
Perhaps the most amazing part about their
round was that Woods didn't have honors to hit first on the tee
over the final 11 holes. May matched him birdie-for-birdie down
the stretch, and even drained a 75-foot eagle putt on their 16th
hole.
“I still finished two strokes behind
him,” May said. “Incredible.”
Among those on the bubble for getting into
the Tour Championship, Rocco Mediate at No. 30 on the money list
had an even-par 72, while Scott Hoch — about $24,000 behind
— opened with a 66.
Woods last played in the Canadian Open,
which he won by hitting 6-iron from 218 yards out of a fairway
bunker and over the water on the 18th hole to set up a birdie.
He played the Presidents Cup last week, but it's easier to atone
for a bad shot in match play.
Woods didn't have many of those on a warm,
breezy day across the street from the Magic Kingdom.
“I really felt that my game was coming
back to where I left it five or six weeks ago,” he said.
“I was able to hit so many quality shots, shape the ball
the way I wanted to.”
None of his first five birdie putts was
longer than 12 feet, and the longest birdie putt he faced all
day was about 30 feet. He got into trouble only once, pulling
a 6-iron left of the flag on the par-3 eighth, followed by a fat
chip. But he holed the par putt.
About the only thing he hasn't done is break
60 — at least on tour. There was that 59 he had at Isleworth
against Mark O'Meara the week before his record victory in the
1997 Masters. Woods had a couple of chances at Firestone in late
August, and looked as though he might give it another try Thursday,
but he missed five putts from 18 feet or less.
“You have to have one of those magical
days where everything comes together,” he said.
Flesch has been Tiger-like only in consistency.
Although the left-hander from Kentucky has never won, he has 12
top 10s this year and will be going to the Tour Championship next
week for the first time.
He also played the Palm Course and had birdies
on six of his first seven holes until he three-putted from 30
feet for a bogey on the par-5 eighth hole. Still, he had few complaints.
“When you get to 5 under through six
right out of the gate, it's kind of like, 'Wow!' We really have
a chance to do something good today,” he said. “Most
of my rounds, I haven't gotten out of the gate really quickly.”
Sunday is a long time away, but perhaps
Flesch can be the next in line to challenge the No. 1 player in
the world. Woods has been pushed only three times in a final round
this year — May in the PGA, Grant Waite in Canada and Ernie
Els in Hawaii.
The first two have only one PGA victory
among them, and Flesch wonders if there's something to be said
for the unheralded players to give Woods his toughest fights.
“People just go out there believing
he's going to win,” Flesch said. “If nobody is expecting
me to win, what do I have to lose?”
Divots:
Kirk Triplett must still be riding a Presidents Cup high —
or maybe it's because he's back to wearing his bucket hat. In
his first tournament since going 3-0-1 in the matches, he shot
40 on his back nine for a 4-over 76, his worst score in a non-major
since the BellSouth Classic in April. ... Tiger Woods shot down
another rumor that came from the tournament director of the Match
Play Championship in Australia. He hasn't changed his mind and
still won't go to Melbourne to start next year. And it's not because
he will be hunting in Argentina. “I've never been hunting
in my life — unless you call fishing hunting. ... The putting
problems for Masters champion Vijay Singh continue. He three-putted
from 3 feet on the 14th at Magnolia for a double bogey. He still
had a 67.
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