Tiger Is History, but Not as He Wanted It

Forget Tiger Woods. Any more days like Saturday at Muirfield and the only guy who’s going to win the British Open is Mark Spitz, but only with fins, a mask and a snorkel.

As he trudged over Muirfield on his way to a 10-over-par 81, his worst round as a professional, Woods had a miserable time in conditions that were pretty much the same.

Think about it. Tiger Woods is in the hunt for a Grand Slam and he shoots the worst round of his life instead.

He made one birdie. It was at the 17th hole, when the rain had finally stopped. After the ball disappeared into the hole, the few fans left in the stands cheered and Woods doffed his cap and took a bow. At least he didn’t get shut out, he said later, in remarkably good humor for someone whose quest for history had been left in the mud.

Yes, it was an awful day for anything except flu, thanks to the rain and wind that struck everywhere. The television coverage by the BBC was a mess. Unable to keep the lenses of the cameras from getting drenched, the pictures of the golf looked as if they were shot through a waterfall.

Of course, Woods wasn’t the only one with bad luck. It wasn’t any better for anybody else who had an afternoon starting time, but Woods was the only one with a chance to win the Grand Slam, an opportunity that doesn’t look too good right now.

It is not clear who will win today, but the weather was the certain winner Saturday. Ernie Els played in what appeared to be a ski parka. Soren Hansen had more layers than an artichoke.

The prevailing wind is from the west here. But Saturday, it was blowing out of the northeast. No one knew what that meant, except that it was bad.

And for Woods, his bid for the Grand Slam went from bad to worse. Tiger established a pattern right from the beginning.

He drove it into the right rough and bogeyed the first hole. He drove it into the right rough and bogeyed the fourth hole. He hit his second shot into the right rough, missed the green and double bogeyed the fifth hole. He drove it into the right rough, missed the green and bogeyed the sixth hole. He drove it in the right rough and bogeyed the eighth hole.

Grand Slam? That’s the sound Tiger made when he closed the door on his own foot.

Six over par after eight holes doesn’t really qualify as getting off to a fast start. His double bogey at the fifth was his first in a major this year, followed eight holes later by his second, so maybe Woods was due.

All we know now is that Tiger’s chance to win this thing is as likely as a sellout of suntan lotion at the pharmacy.

In the 110 years since it hosted the Open Championship for the first time, Muirfield has managed to distinguish itself from the other venues by the quality of its champions. There have been no quirky winners, no one-time wonders or otherwise unknowns who have triumphed at Muirfield.

Instead, such names as Nicklaus, Watson, Trevino, Player, Hagen, Ray and Vardon have won British Open titles on the East Lothian course at Muirfield.

What we don’t know is if Woods, as the greatest player of his generation, missed a chance to take his place in line or whether the odds simply caught up to him.

Of course, weather became a factor for the first time. Shigeki Maruyama found refuge behind a scoreboard and hid from the wind, blowing on his hands to keep them warm.

Rain is one thing, but combine it with a blustery wind that could bend a flagstick in half and temperatures that were dropping faster than the stock market and then you can seriously dial up the quirky quotient of something funny happening here.

Sure, you can blame it on the weather, if you want to, but what do you expect from a country where summer was last Tuesday?

None of this is much consolation to Woods, who was close to mailing it in a couple of times, but didn’t. He tried everything, including taking off his cap a couple of times.

There was another factor at work as well, but off the course. The central topic of a lively discussion was whether it would be good for golf if Woods succeeded in his Grand Slam. The debate hinged on the merits of a powerful history lesson if Woods won all four majors contrasted with the idea that Woods would lose interest because of too much success too soon in his career.

It appears that we’ve got a moot point right now. In 1972, when Jack Nicklaus played at Muirfield after winning the Masters and the U.S. Open, he began the last round six shots behind Lee Trevino and lost by one.

Tiger isn’t close to being that close. There will be no Grand Slam, not this year. History is going to repeat itself, 30 years later, on the very same course, passed down from Nicklaus to Woods. It was one of those days, Woods admitted, one that he would prefer not to experience again any time soon.

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ROUGH DAY FOR TIGER

A hole-by-hole account of Tiger Woods’ disastrous third round Saturday at the British Open, a 10-over-par 81 that was the worst of his professional career (standing against par for the tournament in parentheses):

No. 1, par 4--Iron off tee into right rough. Hits second onto slope of bunker 20 yards short of green. Chips 10 feet past the flag, misses par putt and taps in for bogey (-3).

No. 2, par 4--Five-iron pulled into thick rough. Punches out onto fairway 20 yards short of green. Superb chip to one foot and sinks putt for a par save (-3).

No. 3, par 4--Wood off the tee into the first cut of rough right of fairway. Finds green with his second but 60 feet short of pin. Excellent first putt leaves tap-in for par (-3).

No. 4, par 3--Long iron into breeze misses target and finds light rough right and short of green. Chips to seven feet but misses par putt for his second bogey in first four holes (-2).

No. 5, par 5--Finds fairway off the tee, but hits second in driving wind into right rough. Punches out with third but still 120 yards short of green. Hits fourth over back of green, lob wedge to 10 feet, misses putt for double-bogey seven (even par).

No. 6, par 4--Three-wood off tee but again finds thick rough right of fairway. Hacks out sideways back onto fairway but then overshoots green. Putts from back apron to one foot and holes bogey putt (+1).

No. 7, par 3--Finds left side of green with tee shot, but still 40 feet from pin. Putts to within three feet and makes it for par (+1).

No. 8, par 4--Three-wood off tee but again misses fairway. Second shot short of green and chips to 12 feet. Misses putt and taps in for another bogey (+2).

No. 9, par 5--Finds right side of fairway off the tee and hits second short of green. His eagle try is long and he settles for a par. (+2).

No. 10, par 4--Again finds rough right of fairway and forced to hack back out. Superb third shot to six feet of the flag but misses putt for par and posts another bogey (+3).

No. 11, par 4--Hits the fairway and finds green with his second shot. Though a long way from flag, he manages to two-putt for his par (+3).

No. 12, par 4--Hits the fairway off the tee but then fires wedge from 152 yards over back of green into rough. Chops out into light rough and chips close for a tap-in bogey (+4).

No. 13, par 3--Four-iron into bunker on right of green. Has difficult lie and fails to get out with his first effort. Hits flag with his second but then misses bogey putt from five feet and has to settle for another double bogey (+6).

No. 14, par 4--Iron off the tee and second from thick grass to just short of green. Chips to one foot but misses par putt for another bogey (+7).

No. 15, par 4--On in two for birdie chance from 14 feet. Two putts for a par. (+7).

No. 16, par 3--Finds the green with tee shot. Long first putt to one foot and holes out for another par (+7).

No. 17, par 5--On in three to four feet and raises his arms in relief as he drains the putt for his first birdie of the day (+6).

No. 18, par 4--Iron off the tee comfortably into the middle of the fairway. Superb second shot to five feet, but lips out with birdie putt (+6).

Reuters