Woods a Cut Above

Any day now, possibly by Sunday afternoon, they’re going to have to change the name of those trees at Augusta National from dogwoods to Tiger Woods.

After two rounds of the Masters, Woods is acting as if he owns every pine tree, every azalea bush and every oil slick of a putting surface in the place.

He shot a six-under-par 66 Friday for a three-shot lead over red-faced, red-haired Colin Montgomerie.

And as soon as Woods finished his five-birdie, one-eagle round, he went over to the driving range to hit balls.

“You can always get better,” he said.

Really? If this one wasn’t a work of art, it was the finest example of Woodworking this side of a lathe.

Maybe Woods was simply following the instructions of his father, who offered some advice in the morning.

“I just told him to go out there and kick some [rear],” Earl Woods said.

The way Woods is wrecking this course, he might as well find himself a chain saw and get it over with.

Or course, Tiger is not out of the woods. Costantino Rocca is in third place after a steady 67 that put him four shots behind.

Fred Couples put up a 69 for a three-under 141 that tied him with Jose Maria Olazabal and Jeff Sluman for fourth place.

But it hasn’t escaped anyone’s attention that there is a very big chase going on.

“I’m getting lapped by one guy--Tiger,” Couples said.

For some, the race is already over. Gone are Nick Faldo and Greg Norman, who just happen to be the winner and runner-up of last year’s Masters. They missed the cut, Faldo shooting an 81 and Norman a 74.

Among others heading for the airport are Phil Mickelson, David Duval, John Cook, Brad Faxon, Raymond Floyd, Steve Stricker, Loren Roberts, Steve Jones and Seve Ballesteros.

Meanwhile, Woods seems to be heading for the Butler Cabin. He chipped in from 12 feet for a birdie on No. 2, but chipped over the green and missed his putt for par on No. 3.

He had birdies at Nos. 5 and 8, where he two-putted from 30 feet, and made the turn at four under, one shot behind Montgomerie.

But Woods jumped into the lead in a hurry when he eagled the 13th, smashing an eight-iron 20 feet from the hole and then rolling in the putt.

He hit a sand wedge a foot away on the 14th and birdied the hole, then two-putted from eight feet for a birdie on the 15th after hitting a wedge to the par five for the second day in a row. All of a sudden, his lead was three shots. Paul Azinger, his playing partner, certainly noticed.

“He could be the first player to ever win the Masters who doesn’t shave,” Azinger said. “Nobody ever runs away here--I think.”

Montgomerie tried his best to take the edge off Woods.

“There’s more to it than hitting the ball a long way,” the Scot said. “The pressure is mounting now, more and more. I’ve got more experience, a lot more experience, in major golf than he has.”

As for experience, Faldo and Norman can tell you about the bad ones they had.

Faldo’s nine-over 81 was his worst round in 60 major championships. He began with a double bogey, bogey, bogey, matching the start of 1957 champion Doug Ford, who is 74 years old.

The 13th hole will not be featured prominently in the Faldo highlight film, since there he recorded a quadruple-bogey nine. Faldo laid up, dumped two balls into the water, hit a wedge onto the green and two-putted.

Afterward, he was nearly speechless when asked if he would comment.

“No, I’m shellshocked,” he said after missing the cut at Augusta for the first time in 14 tries. “No, I’m sorry. I’m flabbergasted.”

Norman was slightly more talkative in describing his demise, hastily arranged after he bogeyed three of his last four holes.

He bogeyed the par-five 15th when he hit a six-iron and the ball hit the front of the green before rolling back into the water. Then Norman three-putted the 16th.

“That’s sort of the way the day went,” he said.

And somewhere, Tony Robbins is looking for a new client. Norman, who asked the self-help motivational guru for advice this week, may now turn to something more traditional, like blaming it on his putter.

“There is no residue from last year, none at all,” Norman said of his 1996 Sunday fold. “I just couldn’t make the putts. If you putt well around here, you are going to do well. I didn’t.

“It was just one of those days. It wasn’t my week.”

John Huston, the first-day leader, boiled a bad round down to one hole. That would be the 13th, where he did even worse than Faldo, scoring a quintuple-bogey 10.

In one hole, Huston went from four under and a tie for third to one over and a tie for 13th. He hit two balls into the water and sent a third into the same ditch but it stopped on a sandbar.

Huston found the green in eight and two-putted for his 10.

Woods? He finds Augusta National such a compelling layout that he said par for him here should be 70, not 72.

Even so, Woods took the safe route, urging caution.

“This is only Friday,” he said. “I still have two rounds to play.”

So does everybody else, but two might not be enough.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

LEADERS

Tiger Woods 70-66--136 -8

Colin Montgomerie 72-67--139 -5

Costantino Rocca 71-69--140 -4

Jeff Sluman 74-67--141 -3

Fred Couples 72-69--141 -3

Jose Maria Olazabal 71-70--141 -3

*

COVERAGE

* TOUGH TICKET

An Augusta man committed suicide allegedly because he was unable to fulfill ticket orders he had brokered to the Masters. C10

* LEADERS’ SCORECARD C10

* SCORES C10

* HOLE OF THE DAY C10

* TEE TIMES C10