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 Tiger's patience pays off late Woods rebounds from rough start to stay in contention
Posted: Saturday June 19, 1999 09:18 PM
PINEHURST, N.C. (AP) -- Tiger Woods was disgusted already, and his day had barely begun. A bladed chip led to an opening double bogey and he was cursing loudly to himself as he walked to the second tee. Patience usually wins U.S. Opens, and Woods seemed ready to unravel early on Saturday. It turned out there would be plenty of unraveling to go around on the crowned greens of Pinehurst No. 2. But it was those who managed to put themselves back together who ended up still having a chance on Sunday. At the top of that list was Woods, who came back from a disastrous double bogey-bogey start to finish the day just where he began -- two shots off the lead. "You just have to keep patient and grind it out and make pars," Woods said. "Even though I got off to a rough start, I was very proud of the way I hung in there today." The day that began so badly for Woods wasn't getting much better after he hit his tee shot into the rough on the third hole. But he got it on the green and made par, then calmly went on to play the final 15 holes 1 under. By that time, playing partner Phil Mickelson and co-leader Payne Stewart had also had meltdowns of their own, each making three bogeys in a row at one point. And David Duval, of all people, had played a front nine stretch of four holes at 4 over. As rain began to fall in the late afternoon on the back nine, Woods was suddenly back in the tournament. "I knew the leaders were going to make some bogeys," Woods said. "My goal after the first two holes was just to make pars the rest of the day." If this were anywhere else, or any other tournament, making pars might not be such a difficult thing to do for the world's No. 2-ranked player. But with balls bounding over greens after one hop and running off the edges if they weren't expertly placed, it was the kind of day that Woods hadn't handled well before. "It's very hard to be patient in those conditions," Woods said. "It was rainy, cold, windy. We had everything today. It was very reminiscent of a British Open." With players struggling to make pars, the huge crowds lining the fairways and greens at Pinehurst didn't get a chance to cheer on anyone making a great run to the top of the leaderboard. Only one player, Steve Stricker, managed to break par for the day, yet his modest 69 put him only three shots off the lead. "There is a lack of birdies out there," Stricker said. "You've got to remain patient and try to make pars, and sneak in a few birdies to put some pressure on the leaders." Vijay Singh was doing just that, moving to 1 under with a birdie at 13 that put him just a shot out of the lead. But Singh, like Mickelson and Stewart, had a three-bogey string of his own starting on the 15th hole that moved him three shots back. Tied with Singh was Duval, who started off the day in a three-way tie for the lead, only to double bogey No. 5 and bogey Nos. 6 and 8 for a front nine 40. Like Woods, though, Duval rebounded with a patient string of nine straight pars on the back nine to stay in contention. "Nothing that happened today was bad," Duval said. "I'm going into tomorrow three behind the leader and not too many people between us." With the conditions as treacherous as they are -- and only Stewart clinging to an under-par score -- even the world's best golfer didn't hold up much hope for anything better than a 69 or 70 on Sunday. In most tournaments, that wouldn't get you a top 10. In the U.S. Open, it can be a winning final round. "I think I'm pretty close to sitting on the winning score tomorrow right now," Duval said.
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