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Closer look Bogeys spark Woods to raise level of play
Posted: Saturday June 17, 2000 01:00 AM
By Ryan Hunt, CNNSI.com PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. -- Picking out a bogey from Tiger Woods' round is kind of like looking for a smudge on the Mona Lisa. Or pointing out a verb split in the Gettysburg Address. You don't often want to point out the shortcomings of a masterpiece, which the U.S. Open is quickly turning into for Woods. Yet Woods' two bogeys in Friday's second round could have been the worst thing to happen to the rest of the field, the majority of which is disappearing in his rearview mirror. Yes, they proved that Woods is indeed human. More importantly, they seemed to fire him up. "I knew I needed to get some positive momentum going," said Woods, who was 3 under Friday through 12 holes -- and 9 under for the tournament -- before his round was interrupted by darkness. "I hit a couple of bad shots on five. But I came back with birdies. And that set the tone." Woods' first bogey wasn't until his 23rd hole of the Open, coming on the new 188-yard par-3 fifth hole that has -- literally -- held up quite a few players in the first two days. After a delay, his tee shot went way right, getting caught in the thick rough. He then misplayed his wedge and missed the ensuing par putt. However, Woods followed the bogey on No. 5 with birdies on Nos. 6 and 7. He then suffered his second bogey on par-4, 466-yard ninth -- only to respond in a similar fashion with a birdie at 11 and ending his day by draining a 30-foot putt for a 2 on the par-3 12th. What's scary is that Woods displayed the type of killer instinct he showed in his runaway win at the Masters in 1997. And it all started after he got into trouble for the first time.
"I wanted to get one more coming in somewhere after I bogeyed nine -- just
one," Woods
said. "[The birdie putt at 12] was just one of those putts where I was trying
to get it close. I
had good speed and I was just trying to get out of Dodge. It just went in."
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