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Closer Look Front-nine consistency paved way for back-nine brilliance
Posted: Monday June 19, 2000 06:57 PM
By Ryan Hunt, CNNSI.com PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. -- Tiger Woods wanted to make an early statement Sunday, as if a 10-stroke lead at the U.S. Open doesn't tell you all you need to know. Then again, when you have a double-digit lead entering the final round, the strategy is pretty simple: no bogeys, no worries. So Woods made it a point to methodically carve through the front nine with prudent precision. Nothing fancy, nothing costly. "I knew that if I made 18 straight pars, Ernie [Els] would have to shoot a great score to catch me," said Woods, who shot a bogey-free round for the second time in the tournament. "If I could go around, be patient and make the par putts, I'd be happy." Woods made the par putts, all right. Nine straight to start Sunday. Though this brand of conservatism may seem un-Tiger-like, nine consecutive pars isn't anything new for Woods. He's done it in each of his past three tournaments in North America, including Sunday's front nine. And he has two other strings of eight straight pars this year. Woods' front-nine success came because he rarely had to scramble. He missed the fairway with a 3-iron into the rough on No. 4, then rallied to save par after an errant shot on the par-5 sixth. Other than that, it was smooth sailing, which made the majority of his par putts of the tap-in variety. "He meant business today," said playing partner Els, who finished 15 strokes behind Woods in a tie for second place. "He was never in any trouble. He was very, very calm. He never lost his cool once. His short game helped him out an a couple of holes, but he was just awesome." It wasn't until the par-4 10th that Woods started to put the exclamation point on his Open masterpiece, beginning a string of four birdies in five holes. Suddenly a nine-stroke lead was 13. But it all started with his mistake-free approach on the front. "If you look back at each and every round, I made important par putts," said Woods, who only had six bogeys the entire tournament. "Those big par putts, you have to make in the U.S. Open. And I was able to step up and bury those putts."
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