Woods Rolls In With Cool 65

Back up the van, move out the bleachers, shut off the lights, stick a cork in the fog and close the door. This U.S. Open is already over.

It took 105 years to get to the 100th U.S. Open and about five hours to end the thing. What a timeline. The National Open began Thursday morning and ended, oh, Thursday afternoon, right after Tiger Woods turned in the lowest round ever in a U.S. Open at Pebble Beach.

Here along Carmel Bay, this was supposed to be a gripping marathon, a grueling test of mind and body, an experiment in sheer terror. Then comes opening day and Woods turns the whole thing into a beach party.

The 65 that Tiger shot was as buttoned down as his attire: charcoal gray slacks, gray socks, jet black shoes and black shirt with vertical stripes of white and burgundy. He was the young golf executive with a 60-degree wedge in his attache case.

It was a first round to remember, as if anyone could forget anything Woods does. Of his six birdie putts, four of them were a foot and a half or less. Even when it was hard, it was easy. He finished with style at No. 18, where his four-iron second shot found the greenside bunker.

Between his ball and the flagstick was the face of a bunker so steep you almost needed a rope, a stake and a yodel. But Woods flicked his sand wedge and dropped the ball a foot and a half short of the hole.

Of course, Woods thought it was simple, which is the way he made it look.

What made his 65 appear even better is the fact that par is 71 at Pebble Beach for the Open because the USGA lowered par at No. 2 from five to four. So that six-under 65 would have been seven-under.

Now, how good is that number? Consider Woods’ first round at Augusta National, where he began the Masters with a 75. He finished fifth in the Masters, which is just fine for normal players, but not worth a darn to Woods.

Then there is the issue of being venue challenged. The U.S. Open has long been regarded as Woods’ worst nightmare for a major title, mostly because the typical course setup is narrow fairways and high rough that penalizes the big but usually erratic drivers.

You may have noticed that category no longer includes Woods. In fact, there are a growing number of observers who believe Woods is the greatest driver in the history of golf . . . not only long, but accurate . . . better even than Jack Nicklaus.

It’s sort of like the situation in baseball, where the batter falls behind the pitcher in the count and is at a disadvantage. In Woods’ case, the way he drives, he is always ahead of the hole.

And you must have been watching the sea otters in the fog not to realize that when he is playing his best--which he clearly was Thursday--no one else can touch him.

Miguel Angel Jimenez of Spain came the closest with a 66 in Thursday’s incomplete first round. Known as “The Mechanic” for his hobby of working on cars and his unspectacular, semi-slouchy appearance, he had a mostly happy motoring day, but he made up no ground on the back nine. And that’s where Woods really went to work.

At No. 10, he hit an eight-iron to 15 feet and made the putt for birdie. That was the longest putt he made for birdie. At No. 13, his nine-iron stopped one foot from the hole. At No. 14, he put a pitching wedge one foot away. And then there was his great sand wedge at No. 18.

Woods also saved par at key holes such as No. 11, No. 15 and then No. 17 when he chipped to 12 feet and made it.

Afterward, he seemed nonchalant about his round and didn’t care about his record-setting 65, the fog, history, expectations or whether he could find a drive-through before his stomach started rumbling.

He is dialed in and has gotten there without being pressured all that much by his peers. At this point, there are no natural rivals for him, no real protagonists pushing him to greater heights. Not David Duval, not Phil Mickelson, not Sergio Garcia.

Actually, it should be sort of lonely at the top for Woods, with nowhere to go but down.

That’s not likely to happen for awhile, though, and if round one of the U.S. Open is any indication, not this week, either.

So let’s just get on with it. Give that man the trophy and shake his hand in standard U.S. Open style. It has been a nice 100th. Too bad it ended so soon.