Woods relieved 'the suffering is over'

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Posted: Saturday July 18, 1998 06:57 PM

High winds and frustrating moments dropped Woods from second to sixth in the British Open (AP)

SOUTHPORT, England (Reuters) -- Tiger Woods felt he had met the physical and mental demands of playing golf in a howling wind but he still finished beaten up and suffering after the third round of the British Open on Saturday.

His 7-over-par 77 at Royal Birkdale stemmed from a lot of missed short putts because he was repeatedly buffeted in mid-stroke by the wind, which he said "tends to beat you up a bit."

"The suffering is over," he said when the carnage had ended.

But though he dropped from tied for second, one shot off the pace, to tied for sixth, five strokes behind leader Brian Watts, the world No. 1 was satisfied with his concentration during the round.

"I thought every shot out, I made all the right decisions on my clubs," Woods said. "Just sometimes I couldn't pull the shots off.

"Sometimes I would make a bad swing or a bad stroke but my thought process was good. I don't think I can really improve on that."

He said the wind gusting across the greens made putting a lottery and he missed from six, three and four feet on three successive holes from the fourth.

"The gusts would hit you," he said. "I leaned into the wind a couple of times and it would let up on me and I would lose my balance.

"Sometimes I would brace myself for the wind and it wouldn't blow. Or I'd think it was not going to blow and a gust would hit me. It is very difficult because your putter blade is not going back straight. It is wobbling all over the place because the wind gets hold of it."

Woods said he had a six-footer at the fourth where he felt the wind would not blow but just as the ball was heading for the center of the hole a gust moved it away.

"That was from six feet. Imagine when you have 30, 40 and 50-footers out there how difficult it is."

Woods, the 1997 Masters champion, believed he could still win his second major and hoped the conditions remained difficult.

"That would be best for the guys who are behind. If you can make a lot of pars and the guys come back to you, a lot of strange things can happen."

Woods, 22, is used to being the youngest player in contention but here that honor goes to 17-year-old English amateur Justin Rose, who is fifth, two shots ahead of the American, and has the crowds on his side.

"Obviously he's feeling a lot of pressure, too. But if he can go out there with the attitude that he really had nothing to lose and just play golf, obviously his talents are good enough.

"He's in a great position," Woods said. "He's a great player. No doubt about it, he has a great chance."

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