Tiger Has This Open by the Tail

By CHRIS DUFRESNE

June 18, 2000 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

PEBBLE BEACH —

The winds kicked up here and so did the scores, turning a doldrums tournament into a grind-and-bear-it 100th U.S. Open for 62 golfers . . . and the Phoenix Open for Tiger Woods.

Woods so separated himself from the field Saturday, so demoralized the competition, that today’s final round at Pebble Beach is more a cakewalk than a clambake.

Don’t expect Woods to let up on the gas, either, as his beloved Lakers have done to the Indiana Pacers.

“If I play the way I know I can play, somebody’s going to have to shoot a really good number,” Woods said.

In other words, this Open is open and shut.

On a wind-chapped day during which only one player bettered par, Woods extended his lead from three shots to 10, despite plunking a tee shot into the Pacific and suffering an ignoble triple bogey.

Yet, with his round of par 71 and 54-hole total of 205, Woods owns a double-digit lead over Ernie Els entering today’s final round, more incredible in that Els, a two-time U.S. Open champion, shot three-under 68 after starting the day tied for 36th place.

Els gallantly tried to buck up the troops in pursuit of Woods, proclaiming that “there’s no way this is Augusta in ’97.”

Els was right. This is worse.

At the 1997 Masters, Woods held only a nine-shot lead over Costantino Rocca on the final day before trampling on the hallowed grounds to win by 12 shots with a tournament-record 270, 18 under.

Woods’ two primary opponents today are not Els, at two over, or Padraig Harrington or Miguel Angel Jimenez, both three over and 11 shots off the pace.

Woods’ sights are set on posterity and history.

Not even in childhood make-believe rounds on municipal courses did the U.S. Open play out like this.

“I’d usually be playing Jack, Arnold, Hogan, and it was usually neck and neck,” Woods said. “I never had a lead like this even in fantasy golf.”

The lowest score recorded in an Open at any juncture came in 1992 at Pebble Beach when Gil Morgan reached 12 under during the third round before fading.

Well, Tiger?

The record for lowest final score in an Open is eight under, shared by Jack Nicklaus, Lee Janzen, Ben Hogan and Hale Irwin.

Well, Tiger?

Woods’ 54-hole lead of 10 shots is a U.S. Open record and ties for the largest third-round lead in the history of major championship golf.

By the end of business Saturday, as Woods ran roughshod over the rough, even Els’ stiff upper lip gave way to the reality of Woods’ place in the golf world.

“Let’s think now,” Els said. “In the ‘60s you had [Arnold] Palmer, in the ‘70s, Nicklaus, and in the 80s, [Tom] Watson.

“Seems like we’ve really got a dominant figure in golf, in any sports, with Tiger Woods. He’s probably the most recognizable sportsman on the planet right now.”

Els said Woods’ dominance has been good for golf, with one caveat.

“It would be even better for golf if someone could step up and play with him,” Els said. “It’s very difficult to do. He’s a great player.”

Saturday was Tiger Woods, unexpurgated.

He seemed to be on television from sunrise to sunset. It was like “The Truman Show.”

Woods arose at 4:30 a.m. to complete his second round, suspended Friday night after Woods rolled in a 30-foot birdie putt on No. 12 to go to nine under.

Still at nine under at the par-five 18th, Woods hooked his tee shot into the rocks and let loose a string of expletives that might have made a sailor blush and was captured live by NBC.

Woods apologized for the salty language.

“Heat of the moment,” he said. “Unfortunately, I let it slip out. I regret doing it.”

And get this: Even with the penalty, Woods rallied to make bogey on 18 to finish with a 69 and at eight under after two rounds. His six-shot lead over Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn and Jimenez broke a 97-year-old U.S. Open record for largest 36-hole lead.

Woods’ score of 134 through two rounds also matched the Open record for lowest 36-hole score, shared by Nicklaus (1980), T.C. Chen (1985) and Lee Janzen (1993).

Is anyone in U.S. Open accounting keeping track of all this?

And Tiger was only loosening up for third-round action.

He played like one of the flying Wallendas, teetering on the brink of disaster as he tiptoed on the high wire.

After getting to nine-under with a 30-foot birdie putt on No. 2, Woods triple-bogeyed the 390-yard, par-four third hole to fall to six under, his lead cut to five shots.

This might have been a concern had there been anyone in the field poised to make a move. But neither Bjorn and Jimenez, closest in pursuit, had the games to make a game of it.

Despite the triple bogey, Woods went out in 35 on the front nine and actually increased his lead from five shots to nine.

On the par-five No. 6, Woods lodged his second shot into the hay next to a bunker. With one foot in the sand, he poked a shot to within 10 feet of the pin and made birdie.

On No. 10, a par four, Woods pushed his approach shot into the weeds on the side of a cliff.

Woods jammed his right wrist hacking out of the rough, but salvaged a bogey.

“I hit a rock,” Woods explained. “It was right in front of my ball. In order to hit the shot, I had to take the rock out. I took it out.”

To press the metaphor, the competition in this field is all rocks in front of Tiger’s club.

And he has taken them out.

The tournament, of course, has not officially been recorded.

Woods will not, for the moment at least, even consider his place in history.

“Until that moment comes, I need to keep working and get the job done,” Woods said.

Shots must be shot, scorecards must be signed.

Couldn’t Woods pull a John Daly and fire a 14?

Please tell us there is hope.

“Well, I have to believe that, yeah,” Els said. “As I’ve said before, anything can happen out there. But it seems like Tiger is so solid at the moment. I don’t know what it’s going to take.”

How about a swing and a prayer?

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

U.S. OPEN

THIRD ROUND

Average score: 77.12

Rounds in 60s: 1 (Ernie Els)

Rounds in 70s: 46

Rounds in 80s: 16

MASTERFUL

Tiger Woods is dominating the U.S. Open in 2000 as he did the Masters in 1997. A comparison of third-round totals:

1997 Scores: 70-66-65--201

2000 Scores: 65-69-71--205