Woods Keeps Blade Sharp for Just Such an Occasion

What’s the path Tiger Woods is following in the match-play portion of 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 a ball 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 early, 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 Bryon Bell, a friend from Cypress, to carry his bag, leaving regular caddie 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.

Notes

UCI sophomore Mike Lawrence of Tucson advanced with a 2-up victory over Michael McCoy of Des Moines, Iowa. This morning Lawrence meets Chris Wollmann, Parma, Ohio, who ousted Greg Padilla of Del Mar, 2 and 1. Also advancing were Robert Floyd, son of PGA Tour veteran Raymond Floyd, and Bo Van Pelt, runner-up to Woods in the 36-hole stroke-play qualifier. . . . The longest match of the day was won by 17-year-old Charles Howell on the 24th hole over Jeff Golliher.