Sunday, August 18, 2002
Landing in the soup
By JIM LITKE
AP Sports Writer
CHASKA, Minn. — The ball came to rest alongside a white picket fence. It was so far right of the 18th fairway that with another bounce or two, it might have skittered into a corporate village tent and landed in somebody's soup.
Considering what was about to happen next, that would have been as appropriate an ending as any other.
The guy who drove it halfway to Chanhassen materialized soon enough to claim it. The only thing missing from Tiger Woods' expression was smoke billowing from both ears.
After taking a free drop away from the fence, Woods sent the ball screaming over the heads of a crowd and down the right side of a line of trees. After clearing the last one, the ball turned sharply left and plopped down into the collar of rough ringing the 18th green.
One bold chip and one timid putt later, a very long day of golf ended with the only mistake Woods couldn't redeem.
“I hate ending with a bogey,” he said. “That really ticked me off.”
Two of the three names ahead of his on the leaderboard — Justin Leonard and Rich Beem — must have breathed a huge sigh of relief, even though both would be loath to admit as much.
A combination of Beem missing his par putt on 18 and Woods matching his miracle at the same hole to finish off a suspended second round some eight hours earlier would have changed the final-day pairings dramatically. Instead, Leonard, who leads the PGA Championship at 9-under, and Beem, at 6-under, go off together. And Woods, who shot even-par 72 to stay at 4-under, plays with good friend Fred Funk.
“I love watching good golf,” Funk said, “even if it's my opponent.”
Leonard won't have to play alongside Woods, but it's not like he won't be keeping an eye out for Tiger.
“He'll probably be the one to watch tomorrow,” Leonard said. “The person I watch is the one closest to me, but you know, I'm human, so obviously I'm going to look and see how Tiger is doing.
“Does he intimidate me? Sure, at times he does. He hasn't done it this week, and if I go out and do my job tomorrow, then he won't tomorrow, either.”
But Leonard admitted the deal was far from sealed. He came back from five down on the final day to win the 1997 British Open at Royal Troon, then made up the same deficit to steal the 1998 Players Championship, often considered the fifth major.
The difference is that Leonard doesn't see himself getting caught from behind with that big a lead.
“It's safe,” he said, “depending on how I play. If I struggle or stumble, guys will have a chance.
Woods' best chance may have ended with the tee shot at 18, which turned out to be his 20th hole of the day. Friday's second round was called because of weather and Woods, along with 40 other golfers, returned to the course early Saturday to finish his final two holes.
After a routine par at the 17th, Woods pulled his tee shot dead left on the 457-yard, par-4 finishing hole and wound up in a fairway bunker behind a stand of trees. He was facing a steep lip on the bunker, 202 yards to a back right pin and winds gusting to 35 mph.
“I hit it so flush it was scary,” Woods said.
The ball came to rest 12 feet from the pin and Woods ensured the shot's posterity by rolling in the birdie putt. While the debate began over where it ranked among the all-time greats, Woods caught some rest, something to eat and restocked his bag of tricks.
Maybe it should have come as no surprise that the best part of Woods' day was already behind him. Even Tiger, after all, only gets his hands around so many miracles — especially in the same day.
He made great par-saving putts at Nos. 9, 12 and 16, but he needed 32 in all to get around Hazeltine and the last one — for a bogey 5 at 18 the second time around — will likely turn out to be one more than he could afford.
In a strange sort of way, we might have seen this coming. When Woods won both the Masters and U.S. Open, the calendar Grand Slam seemed a real possibility and the inevitable comparisons to Jack Nicklaus began.
Thirty years ago, Nicklaus won both of the season's first two majors and like Woods, stumbled at the British Open. He came to the PGA Championship the next month, opened with rounds of 72-75 at Oakland Hills and finished in a tie for 13th.
Woods has already won three majors in a season, something only Ben Hogan matched. He has another chance to go past Nicklaus, to win the PGA the same year after a disappointing British wrecked a dream season. But once that ball nestled into the grass alongside the white picket fence on 18, Tiger's chances landed somewhere between slim and none.
———
Jim Litke is the national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at jlitke@ap.org
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Landing in the soup
