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Reversal of fortunes Woods stumbles in with 69 to quell run at PGA
Updated: Saturday August 18, 2001 8:41 PM
DULUTH, Ga. (AP) -- A shot from the fairway bunker landed 8 feet from the hole for birdie. That was followed by a sand wedge from 103 yards that hopped once and disappeared into the cup for an eagle. With two swings, Tiger Woods went from barely making the cut to thinking he had a chance to win his third straight PGA Championship. Just as suddenly, his fortunes changed, with bogeys on the final two holes that left Woods with only a 69 to show for a day's worth of excitement -- and not much to say. He wound up 13 strokes behind Toms, in a tie for 32nd and in jeopardy of finishing out of the top 10 for the fifth straight tournament. He has never gone longer than four tournaments without being in contention. Woods sat quietly in front of his locker when David Duval arrived at the course for the start of his round. "Hey dude, how'd you do?" Duval asked him. "Sixty-nine. Bogeyed the last two holes," Woods replied. Woods got up and walked away from five reporters. In brief comments to a television reporter, he said, "I figured if I could get 3 or 4 under on the back nine, I would be back in the tournament. I was not able to do it." Barring nothing short of a record round by Woods on Sunday, a new PGA champion will be crowned. Woods never was in this major championship. He took two double bogeys in the opening round for a 73 and had to muster all his magic just to make the cut, doing so with a 40-foot birdie putt down the stretch. The relief of keeping his cut streak alive didn't last long. Frustration took over at the end of his round Saturday when he three-putted from about 40 feet on No. 17, and followed that with a poor chip and a missed 15-footer for par on the final hole. Woods rarely has such an early tee time for the weekend in a major, but that didn't keep thousands of people from lining every fairway of every hole, looking for dramatics that never are too far away when Woods is around. None seemed possible after the par-5 fifth hole, where Woods drove left into an upslope in the thick rough, blasted out into wood chips beneath the tree, hit a punch shot under the trees that got hung up in more rough and took bogey. Through seven holes, he was 1 over. Then came the turnaround. After the birdie at No. 8, a terrific shot from the bunker to an elevated green with the pin tucked to the left side, he had 103 yards left to the hole on No. 9 and dunked it in the cup. Woods exchanged high-fives with caddie Steve Williams and smiled all the way to the green, right up to the time he plucked the ball out of the cup and slung it into the gallery, causing a frenzy last seen when Elvis was tossing sweaty scarves into the crowd. "I thought that was the point he was going to take off," playing partner Fred Funk said. "He could shoot 30 on the back nine. I didn't put that out of the equation." Still, a birdie-eagle stretch that got him to 2 under didn't disguise the struggles. Williams sent someone to Woods' locker to fetch an extra sleeve of balls. With Woods having to chop out of the rough in the early going, the balls got too many nicks and scuffs. Woods moved a little closer to the leaders with a two-putt birdie on the par-5 12th, but lost his accuracy off the tee and paid the price. He went from the right rough to a bunker on No. 14, leaving him a 30-yard blast to an elevated green with the pin at the front. Woods hit it perfectly, but missed his 3-foot par putt to give back a stroke. That was the start of a roller-coaster finish. After an 18-foot birdie on No. 15, Woods hit 3-wood into the trees on No. 16 and shaped a low draw that went under the trees and stopped 15 feet from the cup. Two more birdies would put him at 5 under, well within range. He missed the putt, then ran his 40-foot birdie putt on No. 17 about 10 feet past the hole and wound up with a three-putt. The bogey at No. 18 compounded his problems. Woods missed only three greens and failed to get up-and-down for par every time. He took 33 putts for the second straight day. Those were hardly the results he grew accustomed to last year when he won the final three majors of the year, then carried that to Augusta National to win the Masters for an unprecedented sweep of the majors. "I felt like I was actually swinging better," Woods said. After talking with Toms in the lunch room, it was back to work. He went out to the practice range as the leaders were heading to the first tee.
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