Saturday, June 02, 2001
Birdie streak lands Azinger atop Memorial
Tiger two strokes off lead
By John Erardi
The Cincinnati Enquirer
DUBLIN — Tiger Woods opened the door just enough Friday for Paul Azinger to do something magical, a little whimsical and — if you're a believer — just ever so mystical.
Two days after he saluted his late friend Payne Stewart with an emotional tribute as part of Stewart's being the 2001 honoree at the Memorial Tournament, Azinger had five-straight birdies on holes 13 through 17 Friday to shoot a 67 for the second-round lead at 135.
Vijay Singh (66) is one back; Woods (69), Sergio Garcia (69) and former Ohio State star Chris Smith (71) are two back.
Anybody wonder whom Stewart would side with in that group?
“I'm not into all that fate stuff,” Azinger said. “I don't think there's this angel on my shoulder watching over me. I have to do it on my own.”
Then, after the slightest hesitation, Azinger added:
“But maybe I'm wrong.”
After all, who'd have thought the most memorable shot in the history of the Memorial — Azinger's sand-
shot miracle from next to the green on the 72nd hole in 1993 to win it — would have come at the expense of Stewart, who was watching from that same 18th green with a one-stroke lead?
For the first nine holes Friday, Woods (1-under 35) was about as lateral as the wind-whipped, driving rain that caused a two-hour delay here between 10:45a.m. and 12:50 p.m. Woods didn't finish his round of 3-under 69 until just before 8 p.m., but he did it with a flourish, including a birdie on No.17.
Stewart, who loved the history associated with this place, never won the Memorial. His best friend, Azinger, had done him in eight years ago. After that loss, Stewart did the only thing a friend could do. While Azinger was receiving his post-victory ac colades in '93, Stewart was in the locker room peeling bananas and mashing them inside Azinger's street shoes.
“It'd be really special to win here (again),” Azinger said Friday.
Azinger had come off a six-week vacation to enter the Memorial. He practiced hard for only two days beforehand, was unfocused until he got his speech out of the way Wednesday, and drove the ball mediocre for the second day in a row Friday.
“(But) I hit my irons laser-beam accurate,” Azinger said.
And he was lucky more than once, such as on 18 when his mid-iron approach wound up in the left rough and he chipped to 10 feet.
“When I hit it, I thought it was gone, but it rolled up and came back,” he said. “I would like to say I knew it was going to do that, but I didn't.”
Singh, who won the Memorial in '97, knows hardly anybody will be pulling for him with Azinger and Smith in his group today.
“You kind of have to let that feed into your own game,” Singh said. “You have to let that situation fire you up.”
The second threesome has firepower, too: Woods, Garcia and Scott Verplank, who shot 72 Friday.
Everybody who played well Friday was on the mark with their irons. The greens were soft and receptive after the rain but still putting fast.
Asked if it was “OK” that he'd be in the final threesome with Azinger and Singh, Smith nodded affirmatively, then said:
“Tiger is coming, though.”
Azinger knows what this place will turn into if Woods goes on a birdie binge today similar to what Azinger produced Friday.
“You'll hear Tiger's screams a lot more than you'll hear the screams for me,” he said.
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Birdie streak lands Azinger atop Memorial
