Don’t Pull Tiger’s Tail: He’s Not Out of It Yet

On Saturday at the Masters, the sky was the color of a bathtub ring, the wind was howling and rain as cold as a double bogey began to fall.

Who has the advantage in this stuff? Anyone with an umbrella? The parka vendors? The guys who missed the cut?

The way it turned out, it was perfect Tiger Woods weather at Augusta National, where the guy who was supposed to win this tournament in a breeze shot a 68 and, on a bad-weather day, blew himself right back into it.

The last day of the Masters will be a long one, because they have to finish the next-to-last day first. A two-hour delay because of bad weather wrecked the schedule, but it did not bother Woods. He ate lunch.

This is only fair, because for the first time since Woods showed up at Augusta National, he actually ate its lunch.

Tiger is six shots back of Vijay Singh at this point, a position that seemed out of the question when he started the third round nine shots off the lead.

Now the question is whether Woods can come all the way back and win the Masters for the second time in four years.

If he does, you have to say that Woods did it the hard way.

First, he started as the favorite and shot a 75. He was nine shots back after two rounds. He used 64 putts the first two days. He had four consecutive birdies Saturday, then had to cool his heels for a couple of hours to wait out the bad weather.

What’s more, it was the first time Woods signed his card for a round in the 60s at the Masters since his final round in 1997. You might remember he closed with a 69 and won by 12 shots.

That’s not going to happen this time. Woods may somehow wind up with another green jacket, a circumstance that seemed about as likely as finding a street in this town without a Waffle House on it. But he isn’t going to win by 12 shots.

Because Woods apparently has decided he must survive the hard way, a victory isn’t going to come without a struggle.

At least Woods is prepared. Just before he went to sleep Friday night, he switched on the Golf Channel and heard Mark Lye say Woods had no chance. That he was out of it. That he was toast.

This did not make Woods very happy. Of course, if Woods has to resort to getting his inspiration from the media, that shows you how far he really was out of it.

Anyway, Woods had a short statement prepared after his 68.

“I’m not out of it,” Tiger said.

The Woods plan was to get his score back to par and he managed one shot better than that. Given the conditions, what Woods did Saturday was borderline spectacular.

He made bogey on the third hole and saved par at No. 4 after pulling off a nervy flop shot, but he really got the ball rolling at the par-four seventh, where he hit a two-iron off the tee and a sand wedge to two feet. Woods got another birdie at No. 8, a third at No. 9 and a fourth at No. 10, where he rolled in a 10-foot putt.

At the par-three No. 12, he saved par when he made a sticky eight-foot putt after he played an eight-iron chip-and-run with his right foot in the bunker.

He kept going. At No. 13, he two-putted from 50 feet for birdie and then made a two-putt birdie at No. 15 from 40 feet.

The only slip-up came at No. 17, where his pitching wedge was near perfect, but the ball hit a crown on the green on the down slope and it spun back into the front bunker. If it had traveled eight inches farther, the ball would have rolled about six feet from the hole, Woods estimated.

Instead, Woods pitched to six feet and missed the putt for bogey.

Anyway, Woods began the day tied for 39th and ended it tied for sixth. If Tiger moved up any faster, he could get whiplash.

Here’s something Tiger can think about instead of some television guy saying he’s done: While the leaders had to get up early today in the cold to finish the third round, Woods could do something else.

Yes, sleep in. Tiger already had his wake-up call.