Woods Is Ready to Give It His Sunday Best

Tiger Woods played the first 18 holes at the PGA Championship in four under par and the next 36 in two over, which is not the way to win a major, is it?

Woods didn’t make much happen Saturday when he turned in an even-par 70 that added up to a ho-hum, two-birdie and two-bogey round, leaving him in a tie for sixth, five shots off the lead shared by Vijay Singh and Steve Stricker.

“It was a long day for me,” Woods said. “I’m very pleased to be even par for the day. Could have been a lot worse.”

Woods, who birdied both of the par-five holes Thursday, has played them in one over since. The problem was that Woods couldn’t keep the ball on the fairway often enough.

“Well, being five back right now, if I go out and hit the ball really well and give myself some chances, I know I’m going to knock down the putts. And if that’s the case, I would love to have the chance to post [a low score] early and see what happens.”

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Singh, who has not won a major, on what is going to happen today: “It’s a major . . . you never know what’s going to happen.”

That clears it up.

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Moving business: Fred Couples, Bob Tway and Ian Woosnam each shot 67, passing 50 players. They’re tied for 24th.

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They didn’t have the worst rounds of the day, but Phil Mickelson and Colin Montgomerie had the Worst Rounds of the Day, Big-Name Player Division. Mickelson shot a 78 and is tied for 62nd. Montgomerie shot a 77 and is tied for 35th.

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Steve Elkington is three under and only four shots off the lead, which means he’s close enough to know what being in the hunt is going to feel like.

“I think all the players who are at one, two, three and four under par are going to be watching the leaderboard with one eye and keeping their other eye on themselves to see if there are any slip-ups.

“Everybody will be trying to get out of the gate fast. Realistically, there could be 10 guys that have a chance on the back nine if something happens on the front.”

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Greg Kraft, whose 65 was the low round of the tournament, is the player who lost his putter at the 1994 British Open at Turnberry, one his grandfather gave him, then found it and shot a 66 in the third round.

“I guess that was my biggest thrill in a major, bigger than today, although this ranks pretty high,” he said.

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Davis Love knows the history: No player has defended his PGA title since Denny Shute in 1937. But Love’s third-round 69 put him only four shots off the lead, so he’s optimistic.

“I think if I can get one good day hitting the ball in the fairway I could actually have a chance,” he said.

Love was three over for the first six holes and four under the rest of the way.

“I have good patches and bad patches,” he said. “Maybe part of it is trying a little too hard to defend. But I think I’ve put myself in a position where I don’t have any choice but to play a great round [today].”

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John Cook said he knows why Mark O’Meara has won two majors this year and remains in contention to win a third.

“It’s called talent. He’s stepped up to that next very elite level. He is one of the guys to beat every week now, especially in the majors.

“You don’t win 16 times on tour without knowing how to win. It is just a matter of what happens on Sundays in a major championship to kind of rise into that next level. He’s been able to do that.”