Woods Keeps Blade Sharp for Just Such an Occasion

What’s the path Tiger Woods is following in the match-play main event at the U.S. Amateur that began Wednesday?

You beat a 22-year-old player from Colorado State in the first round, then you run straight up against a guy old enough to be, heck, your uncle.

That would be 37-year-old Jerry Courville, a Pitney Bowes plant coordinator from Milford, Conn., who has traded office machines for golf clubs to put himself in the precarious position of being the next player standing between Woods, 20, and golf history.

“I actually have nothing to lose,” Courville said. “Who expects me to win?”

Good point. Woods started slowly, but he still scored a 3-and-2 victory over J.D. Manning of Fort Collins, Colo.

Woods was even with Manning until the eighth hole, then the match turned in the expected direction. Woods was just off the green, but bladed a sand wedge and bumped the ball downhill into the hole from 40 feet away.

“That was basically the turning point of the match,” Woods said. “It either hits the hole or it’s going off the green. And that was huge.”

Woods went 2-up with a two-putt par on No. 9 and 3-up at No. 14 when he rolled in a 15-foot putt from the right of the hole for eagle.

On a warm and sunny morning, a great many decided to accompany Woods on his journey toward what would be a record third consecutive U.S. Amateur title. The gallery was four-deep around most of the greens to watch Woods, and he did not disappoint.

By now, Woods is used to the attention. He said he likes large galleries.

“You can never lose a ball,” Woods said. “They always find it for you.”

About the only time Woods lost balls was when he hit them into the bottom of holes. He consistently outdrove Manning by 50 to 75 yards--”I felt like I was playing a different golf course,” Manning said--and even though he had trouble making putts in the early going, he felt good enough about his game.

“You just have to take it one stage at a time,” Woods said. “You can’t look forward to the finals on Sunday. You just have to say I’ve got a tough match [today].”

Courville advanced with a 3-and-2 victory over Roger Tambellini of USC. A former Walker Cup teammate of Woods, Courville has played in nine U.S. Amateurs and made the semifinals in 1989.

Since experience means something, he said he doesn’t expect to be intimidated much by Woods.

“I offered to take him to dinner tonight, but he wouldn’t go,” Courville joked.

Woods is 37-3 in USGA match play and 15-2 in the U.S. Amateur, including 13 consecutive victories. He needs five more for his third consecutive title.

To help get there, a slight alteration was made in the usual Team Tiger lineup Wednesday when Woods switched caddies. He asked Brian Bell, a friend from Cypress, to carry his bag, leaving regular caddy Jay Brunza as a full-time brain coach.

“I felt Jay was better suited to his clinical psychology, where he can help me more from that aspect,” Woods said.

The rest of Team Tiger remains in place and on duty, including swing coach Butch Harmon and Woods’ parents, Earl and Kultida.

He has a 7:15 a.m. tee time with Courville, and if he wins that, Woods will have a 12:20 p.m. third-round match against 17-year-old Charles Howell of Augusta, Ga., or Patrick O’Brien of Dothan, Ala.