Fans wait for Tiger and are not disappointed
By RON SIRAK / AP Golf Writer
BETHESDA, Md. (AP) - The ninth hole at Congressional Country
Club is the kind of par-5 that no one considers trying to reach
in two shots - not even Tiger Woods.
It is 607 yards long with the landing area off the tee pinched
by bunkers and a deep ravine guarding the green. The wise thing
to do is lay up off the tee and lay up with the second shot, then
try to get close to the pin.
Woods feathered a 3-wood off the tee Monday in his first practice
round at Congressional Country Club before Thursday's start of
the 97th U.S. Open, then laid up again with a 2-iron to the green.
That was not good enough for a gallery that was used to the
impossible from Woods.
"Go for it," they yelled.
"Show me the money," someone screamed, using the
catch line from the movie "Jerry Maguire."
Woods, laughing now, reached in his pocket and took out another
ball and a tee and teed the ball up in the fairway and went at
the green with his driver.
The shot missed to the right side, but the effort drove the
crowd wild. The ovation he received as he walked to the green
was as if it was Sunday at the Open and he was protecting a lead.
Woods has a ton of competition lined up for the Open as he
tries to follow up his April victory in the Masters with the first
back-to-back Masters-U.S. Open championship double since Jack
Nicklaus in 1972. But he has no competition when it comes to being
the most popular golfer around.
Woods finished his abbreviated practice round with a series
of sand shots from the bunker around the ninth green. When one
landed inches from the hole, the crowd went wild with an outpouring
of oohs and aahs and shouts of "You the man, Tiger,"
and "You got a future in the game, man."
For Woods, the toughest part of being a golfer is that he now
has to live up to the expectation that he will become the greatest
ever to play the game. Anything less will be considered a failure.
History is the toughest measuring stick to grow up against.
Woods followed his record-setting victory in the Masters with
a victory in the Byron Nelson Classic and then a fourth-place
finish in the Colonial before finishing nearly last at the Memorial.
Clearly something, whether it was the hectic schedule or just
pure exhaustion, was getting to him.
His coach, Butch Harmon, went back to work with Woods last
week.
"It was good - very good, " Harmon said Monday of
the practice session as he walked with Woods.
Woods hit his driver only once on the front nine Monday, using
it on the 475-yard, par-4 sixth hole.
"This is a golf course that puts a premium on putting
the ball in the short grass," Harmon said. "And he hits
his 3-wood and 2-irons so far it almost makes no difference,"
Harmon said about Woods.
Woods won the Masters at Augusta National by overpowering the
course. To win here, he will have to outthink the course and the
others in the field.
He has proven he can overwhelm. Now he will have to show he
can outsmart.
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