Crowd Chases Montgomerie

The last round on the last day of the last golf tournament of the year is a dash for both the finish line as well as the cashier today at the Target World Challenge, where Colin Montgomerie holds a two-shot lead over Tiger Woods, Jim Furyk and Jay Haas, with the winner’s share of $1.25 million at stake.

Montgomerie shot a 67 to reach 13-under-par 200, played the last three holes in three under, and considered himself fortunate.

“If you had said on the first tee, ‘Monty, you are going to score 67,’ I would have walked home,” he said. “Well, not home, but to the hotel anyway. If you tell me 67 tomorrow, I’ll walk to the airport.”

On his stroll Saturday around Sherwood Country Club, there wasn’t much that ruffled Montgomerie, except for a heckler, who also upset Woods at the 12th green. Woods identified the heckler for security guards.

“It was uncalled for, absolutely uncalled for,” Woods said.

Woods played the first four holes in three over, a stretch of futility that included a pair of three-putts when he was something less than comfortable with his putter.

“It felt like a foreign object in my hands,” he said.

Woods birdied the 16th and 18th to finish with a 69 to share second place with Furyk and Haas, who had matching rounds of 67. Haas had one bogey, missing the green at the 14th but said he’s lucky with his position.

“I don’t think anybody is too intimidated seeing my name up there,” Haas said.

Whether or not that’s true, at 51, Haas is gearing up for another year on the PGA Tour instead of the Champions Tour and will play first in 2005 at either Torrey Pines or the Bob Hope.

“People have made a big deal out of [being] 50, 51, and all that stuff, and I don’t feel that it should really be a factor,” he said. “I can walk 18 holes and I can swing the club. The ball doesn’t know your name. If you hit it close, it goes close, it doesn’t go closer because you’re Tiger or Jack [Nicklaus] or whoever.”

Then there is Miguel Angel Jimenez, who seems to have worked out a deal with the ball this year. His 66 was the best round of the day, nearing the end of the best year of his career. Jimenez is a five-time winner on the European Tour and has already begun the 2005 part of his schedule by winning two weeks ago in Hong Kong, the first event of next year on the European Tour and a scheduling oddity capable of confusing many.

Jimenez says he is sure he knows what year it is.

“This is the end of this year. I only play one season,” he said. “Yes, I win in Hong Kong, but, no, this is the end of this year.”

Jimenez, one shot behind the Woods-Furyk-Haas group at 10-under 203, said he has definite plans back home in Spain once he’s through playing today.

“For two months I’m going to disappear.”

It’s a sound strategy that could also apply today to golf balls and how rapidly they disappear into the hole. Chances are, the player who does it the quickest is going to pocket the largest winner’s check in golf except for the British Open.

Woods, who donated his runner-up check of $700,000 last year to his Tiger Woods Foundation, has won $2.83 million in his five previous appearances in the tournament he hosts. He doesn’t blame anyone for wanting to get lost for a bit after an 11 1/2 -month season but said his own time off doesn’t match Jimenez.

“I play in three weeks, so I don’t have a lot of time,” he said.

Montgomerie may be in the driver’s seat, but the car is sort of crowded, so he has a plan.

“Jay Haas, Jim Furyk, Tiger, one of the three guys behind me is going to score low,” he said. “I’ve got to counteract it by scoring as low, if not lower, myself.”

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Scoreboard

Saturday’s third-round scores from the Target World Challenge at 6,988-yard, par-71 Sherwood Country Club:

*--* 1st 2nd 3rd Par Colin Montgomerie 67 66 67 -13 Tiger Woods 67 66 69 -11 Jay Haas 69 66 67 -11 Jim Furyk 67 68 67 -11 Miguel Jimenez 68 69 66 -10 Padraig Harrington 68 69 67 -9 Chris DiMarco 69 67 70 -7 Chad Campbell 70 68 69 -6 Stewart Cink 70 69 69 -5 Fred Couples 68 70 71 -4 Davis Love III 70 66 74 -3 Vijay Singh 74 69 68 -2 Kenny Perry 73 73 69 +2 Todd Hamilton 73 69 74 +3 Stephen Ames 74 69 74 +4 John Daly 73 69 75 +4

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