Tiger at Tail End of Chase

By CHRIS DUFRESNE

June 16, 2001 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

TULSA, Okla. —

Safe to say the 101st U.S. Open has not gone according to script when you must report Tiger Woods will make the cut--it was close, folks--and that the first question to one of Friday’s tri-leaders was how to pronounce his name.

“It’s like Goosen,” South Africa’s Retief Goosen said. “Goose with an ‘N’. “

What happened to Tiger with a ‘T’? “

Hang with us. It was a long day.

You needed an air-traffic controller to sort out the mess at Southern Hills.

Bad weather forced Thursday’s first round into Friday afternoon.

When the first round was completed at 12:42 p.m., Goosen had emerged the leader at four-under-par 66 with the second round already underway.

Confused?

Here’s what we know for sure, even though Friday’s second round play was suspended at 8:47 p.m. local time:

This is not the Tiger Invitational. It is anyone’s tournament to win and might end up being won by a nobody.

Woods finished his rain-delayed first round in four-over 74, then fired a perfectly mortal one-over 71 in the second, leaving him at five-over 145 and nine shots behind the leaders.

Those leaders are Goosen, Mark Brooks, and J.L. Lewis, all at four-under 136.

Sergio Garcia and Stewart Cink are two shots behind at two-under 138.

“Sometimes you’ve just got to laugh at yourself,” Woods said of his rounds.

The good news for NBC and Woods, Inc.--this week, we welcome in the Walt Disney Co.--is the crowd Woods is chasing has had, of late, an acute aversion to leaderboards.

Goosen, Brooks and Lewis are not exactly Nicklaus, Palmer and Player.

Brooks, at least, you could pick out of a golf lineup.

On capping his first round of two-over 72 with double bogey on No. 18, Brooks shot a six-under 64 in round two to gain a share of the lead and history.

The 64 tied the best second round ever played at a U.S. Open. Brooks birdied five of his first six holes, begging the question: Is this the guy who won the 1996 PGA Championship at Valhalla and then did a Houdini?

Yep, same man.

The 40-year old Brooks has not won on the PGA Tour since his ’96 major championship victory, posting only eight top-10 finishes in 140 tournaments since.

“One-round wonder?” Brooks said of his 64. “I’m not really interested in being one of those.”

Goosen, the South African, followed his opening-round 66 with an even-par 70 in the second.

Goosen has four European Tour titles on file and finished 12th in last year’s Open at Pebble Beach, but he has mostly been a flop on this side of the Atlantic.

Lately, he missed the cut at the Players Championship, withdrew from the BellSouth Classic and missed the cut at the Masters.

Friday, though, he hit 13 of 14 fairways and 14 greens in regulation.

“I was trying to attack flags where I can,” Goosen said.

As for the name game, “Retief” posed more of a tongue-twister--it’s pronounced ra-TEEF.

The third tri-leader, Lewis, leans more toward the “Tin Cup” story.

Lewis, 41, played on the PGA Tour in 1989, then quit to become a club pro in Round Rock, Texas, only to get the itch to give the tour another shot.

He won the 1999 John Deere Classic, which at least gives him some sense of belonging.

“I know it’s possible because of that,” Lewis said of maintaining his U.S. Open lead.

With Woods in search of his swing and a less-than-dynamite leaderboard, one would think opportunity now knocks for David Duval and Phil Mickelson, two of the world’s best players who have not won major championships.

How many times is Woods going to be nine shots off the lead?

Duval stepped into the vacuum and is at one-under 139 after two rounds, following his opening 70 with a one-under 69.

Duval played 26 holes Friday and had only 45 minutes’ rest between swings.

“It’s a small price to pay to have a chance to win a U.S. Open,” he said.

Mickelson shot 70 in the first round but announced his arrival in the second with a hole in one on the 175-yard sixth hole.

Mickelson finished at one-under 69 and is three behind the leaders.

Hale Irwin, the 56-year-old who shot a first-round 67, returned to earth Friday with a 75.

It may be over and out for Irwin, but no one has dismissed Woods.

“If I can shoot 64, he can shoot 60,” Brooks said. “He’s human, and he showed it today.”

Woods has been out of sorts since he hit Oklahoma.

After his first-round 74, he posted consecutive bogeys at No. 4 and No. 5 to go six over and was standing over par-save puts all day.

Tiger’s assessment?

“I pulled a couple, I flared a couple, hit a few more right, and a few long, a few short,” he said. “I’ve got the whole gamut covered.”

Still, hopeless as it seems, Woods is not out of contention.

He made a mood-altering, up-and-down par save at the par-three No. 11 after his tee shot went left and landed in a divot.

Birdies on No. 12 and No. 13 pulled Woods to four over before he gave a stroke back with a bogey at the par-four, No. 16.

Woods did not collapse, though, making a nice par-saving putt on No. 17 and getting out with par on No. 18.

Woods took mediocrity in stride.

“I grinded my way around the golf course for two days,” Woods said. “I’m proud of the way I hung in there. I’ve got myself out of trouble and made some big pars.”

Woods also took heed of Brooks’ round of 64.

“He was at two over par at the time, he was four or five back, and now he’s tied for the lead with six under,” Woods said. “That’s what happens when you play a golf course that’s set up this difficult. That’s the beauty of it. You play a good, solid round, you’re going to move up the board.”

Woods has two days to get a move on.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

U.S. OPEN LEADERBOARD

Par 70. 36-Hole Scores

Mark Brooks: 72-64--136 -4

J.L. Lewis: 68-68--136 -4

Retief Goosen: 66-70--136 -4

Sergio Garcia: 70-68--138 -2

Stewart Cink: 69-69--138 -2

David Duval: 70-69--139 -1

Phil Mickelson: 70-69--139 -1

Note: 33 golfers did not complete the second round