Friday, July 7, 2000
Price ties course record with
9-under; Woods well behind
By NANCY ARMOUR
AP Sports Writer
LEMONT, Ill. (AP) — That dominating,
near-perfect game Tiger Woods had at the U.S. Open wasn't there.
This time it was Nick Price who was doing everything right.
Price tied the tournament record with a
9-under-par 63 Thursday and took a three-stroke lead in the first
round of the Western Open. Woods, playing for the first time since
his record 15-stroke victory at the U.S. Open three weeks ago,
was seven shots back.
“I was ready to go,” said Woods,
the defending Western champion. “It's just that the score
didn't reflect how hard I played today, and a lot of that was
just the putts didn't fall.”
Everything was falling for Price, who birdied
eight of the first 11 holes. Jim Furyk was at 66, and Carl Paulson,
Steve Stricker, Fred Couples and Stuart Appleby were another stroke
back in the tournament sponsored by Advil.
“I got off to such a good start, I
just kept going. That was what was fun,” Price said. “When
I birdied 11, I thought I may have an outside shot at 59. But
once again, if you get too far ahead of yourself, it comes up
and kicks you in the backside.”
Price, who won the Western Open in 1993
and 1994, picked up another stroke with a birdie on the par-4
16th. Hitting his second shot from about 170 yards, Price put
it just a foot from the pin.
The crowd applauded as he walked toward
the green, and Price touched the bill of his hat in acknowledgment.
As he walked to the 17th tee, someone yelled, “Third time's
the charm, Nick! Third time's the charm!” Price just smiled.
He had a chance to pick up another stroke
on 17 and get the tournament record all to himself, but his birdie
putt from about five feet rolled around the left edge of the cup.
The crowd gasped, and a frustrated Price swung his putter like
a baseball bat before tapping in for par.
“It was the easiest putt I had all
day — uphill, left to right on the right edge — and
I just pulled it,” he said. “That was a little annoying
because I had holed a lot of putts that were tougher than that
with more break. But hey, it all evens out in the wash.”
After his frustration of the last few months,
Price isn't about to quibble over a missed shot or two. The 1994
PGA champion began the season strong, finishing second at the
South African Open and third at the Doral-Ryder Open. He also
tied for third at The Players Championship.
But he missed the cut at the BellSouth Classic
after shooting a 77 in the second round. He tied for 11th at the
Masters despite shooting only one sub-70 round.
“I needed something like that because
the last five, six, seven weeks, I've been floundering a little
bit,” he said. “Golf is like life. Sometimes things
happen and you just can't explain them.
“But I really felt like I got back
on track today. I had some good memories, some good thoughts about
things that happened in times gone by.”
While Price might have been thinking about
1993 and 1994, most in the crowd were thinking of a much more
recent tournament. It will be three weeks on Sunday that Woods
shattered records no one ever dreamed would be broken as he won
the U.S. Open.
He didn't play poorly Thursday, but he didn't
have that edge he had at Pebble Beach, either. The ball wouldn't
fall the way it usually does for him, and he missed putts he normally
makes with ease.
On the par-3 2nd, his tee shot was short
and to the right. He chipped on and the ball headed right for
the pin — only to scoot right by and roll four feet past.
He still had a chance for par, but his putt hit the back edge
of the cup and spun out.
On the next hole, a par-4, his birdie putt
from 10 feet curled around the very edge of the hole and didn't
drop.
“I just didn't hit the ball very close,
and when I did, I didn't make the putts,” he said. “I
hit a lot of putts that lipped out, and that's just the way it
goes.”
Though disappointed in his round, Woods
isn't exactly sweating his seven-stroke deficit. After all, this
is the guy who came from seven strokes back with seven holes to
go to win at Pebble Beach in February. He also came back from
eight strokes down to beat Ernie Els in a playoff at the 1998
Johnnie Walker Classic in Thailand.
“I looked for his name on the leaderboard
a couple of times and didn't see it. I was kind of surprised,”
Price said. “But I don't know how you come back off a U.S.
Open like that. It must be pretty hard to tee it up this week.
“He'll wake up just now,” Price
added. “Probably just having a little snooze at the moment.”
Divots:
Price tied the course record of 63 set by Jeff Sluman in 1992
and matched by John Adams in 1993 and Dudley Hart in 1998. ...
Curtis Strange withdrew from the tournament Thursday morning with
flu like symptoms. ... Franklin Langham had a hole-in-one on No.
2. ... Phil Mickelson's Western Open woes continued. Mickelson,
whose best finish at the Western is a tie for 26th, shot a 2-over
74.
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