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On the Course Woods proving he is immortal at U.S. Open
Posted: Sunday June 18, 2000 12:50 PM
By, Gary Van Sickle, Sports Illustrated PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. -- The wind came up at Pebble Beach on Saturday. Nothing like Bloody Sunday at the 1992 U.S. Open here, but strong enough to blow away most of the field. However, the gusts were not strong enough to stop Tiger Woods, whose lead reached 10 strokes during the third round. Bobby Clampett, the CBS commentator turned Cinderella story Open competitor, estimated par was 79 Saturday. Paul Azinger figured it was at least 77. Rocco Mediate, who shot 75, figured Woods was in a league of his own. "To tell you the truth, I wasn't too impressed the first two days because Tiger does it all the time," Mediate said. "But what he's doing today is kind of scary after making a triple on the third hole. It's amazing. He birdied the ninth hole. I don't know how he did it. Smoke and mirrors. "We're all mortal. He is not. He's No. 1 and we're looking up, which is fine. He makes us play harder. The Open is a matter of survival and we see who's surviving. I survive with 4-over [par]. He survives with 1-under. That's the difference. He's just better in all aspects of the game." Mediate said comments praising Woods earlier this year by Davis Love III and Colin Montgomerie and discussing an intimidation factor, were on the money. "The truth is the truth," Mediate said. "Yeah, Tiger can be beat. Once in a while. Over 11, 12 years, the rest of us have no chance. I don't have a problem with saying that. He's not going to win every week, just nine, 10, 11 times a year. "There's nobody who is going to catch him now. I'd like to seem him break the record, to tell the truth. I don't know if they're going to let him. They'll probably put the pins in places no one can find Sunday." Azinger said at the start of the week, he figured 5-over-par would win the tournament. "It probably would have," Azinger said after struggling to a 79, "except for one guy."
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