Tiger roars
Woods, Singh advance to final of Grand Slam of Golf
Posted: Monday November 30, 1998 08:59 PM
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After jumping out in front, Tiger Woods held off a rally by Janzen to advance Craig Jones/Allsport |
POIPU, Hawaii (AP) - The PGA Tour season is at an end, but that's not keeping Tiger Woods from improving his game.
After spending a few days in Las Vegas working under Butch Harmon, Woods has regained his putting touch.
He showed it at the PGA Grand Slam of Golf on Tuesday, making birdies on three of the first four holes and then knocking in a 35-footer on the 15th to close out U.S. Open winner Lee Janzen in the match play competition, 3-and-2.
In the second pairing, Vijay Singh gained a measure of revenge by beating Mark O'Meara, 2-up. O'Meara embarrassed the native of Fiji at the World Match Play Championships in England last month, 11-and-10.
"I spent the last four days in Las Vegas working with Butch," Woods said. "Working on my game; working at it."
It paid off.
"I rolled the rock well, he said. "It was an ideal start and it carried the round."
Tuesday's winners will meet Wednesday for the $400,000 first prize.
Woods didn't waste any time showing off his putting touch. He rolled in 20-foot birdie putts, one from the fringe, on the first two holes and added another at the fourth to go 4-up after only five holes.
But for all intents and purposes, the biggest came at the par-4, 427-yard 15th hole on the windswept 6,957-yard Poipu Bay Resort Course on Kauai island.
Woods landed his second shot at the lower end of the two-tiered green and then hit the putt of the match, uphill with a 12-foot break.
Vijay Singh (left) defeated O'Meara with his putting game Jamie Squire/Allsport | |
"It was a bomb," he said.
A birdie at the next hole closed out the match.
The second pairing was close with the match all square through 13 holes.
But Singh, the PGA Championship winner, birdied the next hole to take the lead for good. O'Meara tried to catch up on the 18th, but his second shot dropped into the water to end his hopes.
"My 4- and 5-footers kept me in the match," Singh said. "It was give-and-take. It came down to who made the putts at the end.
"Mark's putter let him down," he said of O'Meara, who missed only one fairway and a couple of greens.
The Grand Slam is limited to winners of the four majors.
O'Meara, 41, became the oldest player to win two majors in the same year with victories in the Masters and British Open.
Woods earned the alternate position after turning in the best performance by a player in this year's majors. He is the only player who played in this event a year ago.
The first round of the 36-hole event was played under cloudy skies - there was a brief shower squall midway through the front nine - and winds gusting up to 35 miles per hour.
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