Sunday, June 06, 1999
It's Tiger's tournament to lose
Woods leading Singh by two in Memorial
BY JOHN ERARDI
The Cincinnati Enquirer
DUBLIN — Five golfers, including would-be archrival David Duval, will try to catch a Tiger by the tail today.
But unless Tiger Woods goes in the tank, he will win a huge tournament, the Memorial.
It would re-establish him as the premier player in the world.
After his 2-under-par 70 Saturday, Woods has a two-stroke lead over playing partner Vijay Singh (71), with whom he'll be paired again
today.
The hunt is on: Dennis Paulson is four back; Duval, Mark Calcavecchia and Bill Glasson five back. Twenty strokes back is tournament host Jack Nicklaus (76).
Nothing is better for golf than Tiger Woods leading tournaments.
The television audience figures to be huge, and the galleries can't get any bigger. The total crowd size Saturday was pushing 45,000 on a sun-
splashed day that favored the long-hitting Woods, who is ripping his 2-iron 280 yards off the tee (240 of it in the air).
“It's going to be just another day at the beach for Tiger,” Calcavecchia predicted. “It's his course. He's very, very long, uses driver on only one hole, can reach both par-5s on the back side with irons. He has a big advantage. It's going to take a low score to beat him.”
Six times Woods has led PGA tournaments going into Sunday.
Five times he has won.
What about the lead he blew?
“I had a good collapse at Quad Cities,” he said of the event from his rookie year. “It was my third tournament. I had a two- or three-shot lead going into the final round against Ed Fury and lost the gripper.
“I think I had a quad (quadruple bogey),” he added. “Quad, Quad Cities. That was a lot of fun. I think I had about three putts; had a four-putt in there, too, and I think I made six or seven birdies. It was just an ugly, ugly round.”
That was three years ago.
He spoke as though it were a generation ago.
It was one long swing change ago, that's for sure.
Woods has a narrower swing plane now with not so high a finish. The ball whistles off the club face. like a low-trajectory Tomahawk missile.
“I never doubted (the new swing) once, because I could feel when I did it right, God it felt good,” Woods said. “Perfect trap, very flat. Very thin, shallow divots. That's just where I wanted to be.”
Not only is Woods hitting the ball better than ever, he's managing his way around the course better than ever, because he knows where the ball is going. It's the best he has ever played, he said.
“No doubt about it,” he said. “I've got more shots. My misses aren't as bad. I got more control. It's just all the changes I've made over the past couple of years, especially in the last year. It finally started to pay dividends this year.”
There seems no doubt in his mind that he'll win today.
Singh thinks it will take “14- or 15-under” to win.
That would mean Singh would have to shoot 67 or 68 to win this tournament for the second time in three years. Woods, who has not made it into the top 50 here in two previous visits, said his plan is to avoid bogeys.
“I love when people have to come get me,” he said. “I love to feel that intensity, that fight. It's a great fight. And it's right where I want to be. Because you know it's going to take more effort for them to come get you than it is for you to just maintain par.
“The key for anyone who's leading is not come back to them. That's the key to making par; no bogeys my last round, that's always my key. I did it in Germany (two weeks ago) — 14 pars, four birdies, no bogeys. I won.”
“With his iron game and the way he putts, he's going to be tough to beat,” said Ohio State grad Chris Perry (71), who is seven strokes back.
“Tiger's the man,” said Paulson (69). “The only way that anybody's got a chance is if Tiger plays an average round of golf. You know, for Tiger to shoot even par, he can probably play pretty bad; he's just so good. You know, 12-under is a pretty solid number right now.
“I don't see anybody shooting 64 with the conditions that are there right now. Especially with some of these Sunday pins. There'll be some tough ones out there (today).”
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