Saturday, April 8, 2000
Woods survives cut, nine strokes
behind Duval
By EDDIE PELLS
AP Sports Writer
AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) - Tiger Woods finished
the second round of the Masters closer to the cut line than the
top of the leaderboard.
So much for another dominating performance
at Augusta National.
Woods shot an even-par 72 on Friday for
a 3-over 147 total. He made the cut by two strokes, and will have
to make up nine shots to catch leader David Duval.
Woods has mastered the art of the comeback,
but he'd have to pull off one for the ages here. Among those he
would have to leapfrog are Ernie Els, Phil Mickelson and Vijay
Singh, who are all at 5 under, not to mention Jack Nicklaus (even),
Colin Montgomerie (1 over) and Bernhard Langer (2 under).
"There are a lot of guys who have won
a lot of tournaments on that leaderboard," Woods said. "I
just need to go out there and play solid. If I get it going, that's
great. If I don't, I'll get it going sometime."
Woods' course-record 270 in a historic 1997
victory at the Masters left many people wondering whether he had
made one of the most famous courses in the world obsolete.
They Tiger-proofed the layout - moving back
tee boxes, growing rough, planting new trees and taking other
steps to toughen things up.
Woods hasn't broken 70 since.
"The last couple years, obviously the
winning score hasn't been that low," he said. "The conditions
haven't been easy."
But they were relatively tame Friday, with
little wind and soft greens. Thirty-seven players broke par, compared
to nine in the first round. The course played 2.9 strokes easier.
Woods had plenty of chances.
He failed to get up and down from a bunker
on No. 11. On No. 15, he missed a 15-foot putt for eagle, causing
him to sink to his knees in despair.
He three-putted from 50 feet on No. 16 and
three-putted again on No. 18 for the last of his five bogeys.
He'll be paired with Stewart Cink for an
early tee time Saturday. In the best circumstances, he would shoot
a low round, then hit the clubhouse to watch the field come back
to him.
If not, there's always Sunday. And it's
hard to count Woods out until the bitter end.
"I'll just try to play solid,"
Woods said. "If it happens, it happens. If it doesn't, it
doesn't."
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