Woods Makes His Run Toward Lead

Tiger Woods was in a hurry Friday--first to make his tee time, then to get into contention in the PGA Canadian Open at Oakville, Canada.

Woods had to scramble to get to the 10th tee, scrambled to save his round on the first couple of holes, then put it all together with a birdie-eagle-birdie-eagle blitz that thrust him into the thick of a shootout.

He finished with a 65 and was at seven-under 137, four strokes behind Grant Waite.

Woods couldn’t remember the last time he almost missed a tee time.

He and caddie Steve Williams thought they went off at 8:57 a.m. for the second round, when instead it was 7:57 a.m.

“I got here early to eat some breakfast and the lady came up to me and says, ‘Well, you have 15 minutes until your tee time,’ ” Woods said.

“So I ran down there and got on the range. Actually, it was probably a blessing in disguise because I’m not really feeling my best physically. It was nice to not wear myself out on the range.”

While Woods said the hurried start to his day wasn’t a factor, it sure looked like it.

He had to work for every par, and appeared to be going through the motions at one-over through five holes, in danger of missing the cut for the first time since the 1997 Canadian Open at Royal Montreal.

Within an hour, he was two strokes out of the lead.

It began with a harmless eight-iron on the par-three 15th to a pin cut over a ridge on the back of the green. The ball covered the flag, spun back to four feet and started an incredible string on his scorecard--2-3-3-3.

His final hole on his first nine was the stuff of legend--a 380-yard drive, with a breeze at his back, that left him a 60-degree sand wedge into the green on the par-five 18th.

Even Woods had a hard time containing a sheepish grin explaining a drive so far that playing partner Jesper Parnevik hit his third shot before Woods hit his second.

“It’s one of those shots I hit solid,” he said.

No kidding.

“Once you see Tiger on the leaderboard, you know that you can’t make any mistakes because he doesn’t make any mistakes,” Sergio Garcia said.

As long as Woods knows when his tee time is today, he should be in good shape.

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Defending champion Gil Morgan and Tom Wargo shot eight-under-par 64s to share the first-round lead in the Senior PGA Tour’s Comfort Classic at Indianapolis.

Morgan had four birdies in a six-hole stretch on the back nine, while Wargo birdied four of the first five holes and four of the last five on the Brickyard Crossing course.

Bruce Fleisher, the tour’s leading money winner, opened with a 65, and Jim Colbert was another stroke back at 66.

David Lundstrom, who had a hole-in-one on the seventh hole, and CBS announcer Gary McCord topped an eight-player group at 67.

One of the day’s more interesting rounds belonged to Graham Marsh.

After shooting a 40 on the front side, the Australian played Nos. 10-17 in seven-under, then finished with a double bogey for a 71.

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Tina Barrett shot a course-record nine-under 63 to take a three-stroke lead in the LPGA First Union Betsy King Classic at Kutztown, Pa.

Barrett, who broke the Berkleigh record of 65 held by Laura Davies, Dale Eggling and Kelly Robbins, had nine birdies and hit all 18 greens in regulation in the lowest score of her career.

Jean Bartholomew was second after a 66.

Meg Mallon and Sara Sanders opened with 67s, and defending champion Hy Yung Kim was another stroke back along with Kristi Albers, Michele Redman and Maggie Will.