Lehman Too Much for the Tour's Best

By MIKE PENNER

Oct. 27, 1996 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

TULSA, Okla. —

Tiger Woods’ comeback attempt in Saturday’s third round of the Tour Championship lasted all of one hole, the fifth, which he eagled.

Nice hole--par five, 614 yards, tight fairway, economy-sized green surrounded by four gaping bunkers.

Tiger mastered the monster in a swashbuckling three strokes, including a 355-yard drive.

Next assignment, young man: Do it again, maybe a dozen more times.

That’s about what it would have taken Woods to catch another glimpse of Tom Lehman in his viewfinder, which isn’t Tiger’s fault, not entirely. Twenty-seven other golfers, the top money winners on the 1996 PGA tour, also must crane their necks as they wave goodbye to Lehman.

Saturday, Lehman shot a six-under-par 64, one shy of the Southern Hills Country Club course record, for a three-round total of 197--13 under par for the tournament and nine strokes ahead of the next closest golfers in the vicinity, Brad Faxon and Vijay Singh.

And Tiger?

His fifth-hole eagle was negated by an 18th-hole double bogey, setting him back to a two-over-par 72 for the day and 10 over (220) for the tournament.

Or, to put it in less-kind terms, 23 strokes behind Lehman.

But for Woods, this tournament became an afterthought a while back. His 64-year-old father, Earl, has been hospitalized since early Friday morning after being treated for chest pains, a condition later diagnosed as fluid in the left lung.

Earl watched Tiger’s third round on television from his bed at nearby St. Francis Hospital and is expected to be discharged today.

“I felt a lot better out there today,” said Woods, who labored through a distracted 78 on Friday. “[Friday] was a day I was thinking about my dad all day. I didn’t want to play because, as I say, there are more important things than golf--and one of them’s my dad’s health.

“Today, I knew the situation was under control and my dad is feeling a lot better, so I felt I could come out here and focus on my game. When your thoughts and prayers are somewhere else and the only thing here is your body, it’s kind of tough to play. . . .

“I let it slip away at the end of the back nine. It could have been a lot better. But that’s just Southern Hills. It’ll reach up and bite you if you’re not careful.”

Except, evidently, for Lehman, who’s not only biting back at the course, but grinding it up and leaving it for mulch.

Lehman’s 64 was one short of the course record--Raymond Floyd’s 63 in the first round of the 1982 PGA Championship--and his nine-stroke advantage is the largest 54-hole lead since 1973, when Jack Nicklaus also led by nine after three rounds at Ohio King’s Island. Nicklaus won by six.

In the interview tent, someone asked Lehman, “How many times have you had nine-shot leads after 54 holes?”

“Is that a joke?” Lehman replied.

“Never, never. Not even in high school, I think. Or junior golf.”

Faxon, four under for the tournament after a third-round 66, looked around and also found himself standing on uncharted territory.

“I’ve never been nine shots back in second place,” Faxon observed.

Which makes today’s final round, if not academic, more than a little problematic.

“You can’t say that it’s impossible to catch up,” Faxon said, trying to convince himself. “We’ve seen some weird things happen this year, and over the years.

“But I certainly don’t think it’s the most probable thing I’ve ever seen. He’s got to shoot his worst round of the week and somebody has got to go out and do what he did today. So making up nine shots in 18 holes is very difficult.”

On the other hand, someone suggested to Lehman, maybe carrying a nine-stroke third-round lead is “scarier than having a three-shot lead, because if you lose it, it will be worse.”

“Get that guy out of here,” Lehman quipped.

“I’ve played rounds before with other players where I’ve shot 65 and they’ve shot 78 and it’s a 13-shot swing, so you never say never,” Lehman allowed. “But if I do go out tomorrow and play my game and play like Tom Lehman can play, it’s going to be extremely tough.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Tour Championship

LEADERS

Tom Lehman: 66-67-64--197 -13

Brad Faxon: 68-72-66--206 -4

Vijay Singh: 66-71-69--206 -4

Fred Couples: 68-73-68--209 -1

Justin Leonard: 73-68-68--209 -1

Tom Watson: 70-70-69--209 -1

OTHERS

Phil Mickelson: 67-75-68--210 E

Steve Jones: 67-73-70--210 E