Sunday, June 17, 2001
A wide-open U.S. Open —
minus Tiger
By DOUG FERGUSON
AP Golf Writer
TULSA, Okla. (AP) — Retief Goosen has
everything going his way in this U.S. Open — a share of the
lead heading into the final round on a course with a history of
wire-to-wire winners. And Tiger Woods nowhere in sight.
Goosen saved par on six of his last eight
holes Saturday at Southern Hills, while Stewart Cink recovered
from a disastrous start with the kind of birdie binge expected
from Woods.
The result was two leaders who don't have
nearly the charisma or the credentials of Woods. What they do
have is all that mattered — a chance to win the U.S. Open.
Goosen's final scramble was an approach
around the trees from the right rough for a two-putt par on the
18th, giving him a 69. Cink, the only player to break par at Southern
Hills all three rounds, had a 67 and tied him for the lead.
“If I can win this tournament, obviously
it would be the greatest feat of my career,” said Goosen,
a four-time winner on the European tour. “I'm just going
to try to enjoy every moment of it.”
They were at 205, with plenty of proven
players right behind, none named Woods. The question Sunday is
which one will end Woods' streak of four straight majors.
“I don't think many players are thinking
about any streaks right now,” Cink said. “If I win this
tournament, I'll have satisfied my goal this year, and I'll have
satisfied a goal that's been out there my whole career.”
Woods hit too many bumps and missed too
many putts to make any kind of a charge. He had a 69 — his
first round under par this week — and was nine strokes behind.
All he needs now is the greatest comeback in U.S. Open history
to claim an unprecedented fifth straight major, a task that seems
out of reach considering there are 22 other players in front of
him.
“It's a tough spot,” Woods said.
“But you know what? If I go out there and play a good, solid
round tomorrow, you never know.”
The better odds belong to those a lot closer
to the top.
Sergio Garcia twice answered bogeys with
birdies on the back nine and had a 68, leaving him one stroke
behind. Walking up the hill after finishing his round, he glanced
back at the leaderboard and smiled. At 21, he is in great shape
to become the youngest U.S. Open champion since Bobby Jones in
1923.
Also at 206 was '96 PGA champion Mark Brooks
(70) and Rocco Mediate, who has never finished higher than 18th
in a major but turned in a 67.
Phil Mickelson gets another chance, too.
He spent his 31st birthday Saturday making the kind of mistakes
that have cost him in other majors — such as a three-putt
from 8 feet on No. 13 to turn potential eagle into a par.
Still, he had a 68 and was only two strokes
back, well within range.
“I shot 2-under par on Saturday at
the U.S. Open, and I'm by no means disappointed,” Mickelson
said.
It surely didn't upset that Woods was far
behind. Mickelson, who finished third behind Woods at the Masters,
even made light of the situation.
When asked whether Woods had a chance, he
asked how far back he was — 4-over 214, nine shots behind.
“I guess everybody at 4 over has a
chance,” he said.
The biggest U.S. Open comeback belongs to
Arnold Palmer, who charged from seven strokes behind in 1960 to
win at Cherry Hills.
Woods recited some other great rallies —
Johnny Miller with his 63 at Oakmont in 1973 to jump past a dozen
players, and the greatest comeback in major championship history
when Paul Lawrie made up 10 strokes at Carnoustie on final day
of the 1999 British Open.
Lawrie had Jean Van de Velde. Woods doesn't
look like he'll get that kind of help.
Goosen, a cool customer from South Africa,
finished with nine straight pars, none of them particularly easy.
On his side is the history: wire-to-wire
winners in four of the previous five majors played at Southern
Hills.
Cink has momentum on his side.
Starting two shots behind on a brutally
hot Saturday — temperatures approached 100 degrees —
Cink went bogey-double bogey and was in a free fall. He turned
it around quickly with four straight birdies, and set himself
up for a chance at his first major.
For a group of players who have rarely been
in this position, the big test will come Sunday on a course that
is getting firmer and faster.
“You might see a lot of bogeys made
by everybody,” Cink said. “It's kind of hard to predict.
But it will be exciting — that's almost guaranteed.”
Just about anything is possible in this
U.S. Open, a far cry from last year when Woods won by 15 strokes
and left everyone else fighting for second.
David Duval failed to take advantage of
accessible pin positions and even three-putted for bogey from
12 feet. He finished at 71 and was at 210, along with Paul Azinger
(69).
J.L. Lewis, tied for the lead with Goosen
and Brooks after two rounds, staggered to a 77 and dropped out
of sight. Of course, he was still one stroke better than Woods.
Woods' best hope was for Southern Hills
to chew up the leaders, most of whom were just getting started
when he called it a day.
Instead, they went on the attack.
Goosen, Garcia, Mickelson and Cink all played
the front nine under par, with a collection of steady play and
great recoveries.
Mickelson birdied three of his first five
holes for a brief share of the lead. Garcia hit a few bumps in
the bunker, but holed a spectacular putt for birdie that rolled
behind the cup and then dropped.
There's nothing exciting about Goosen.
Then again, that's not what the U.S. Open
is all about.
“Nobody is going to be perfect,”
Brooks said upon arriving at Southern Hill. “There's going
to be a lot of mistakes made by everybody.”
Woods wasted no time making his.
For the third straight round, he failed
to find short grass with his first tee shot. This one landed in
at the base of a steep-faced bunker, leaving him no chance to
reach the green. His pitch was 25 feet short and he took bogey.
There were times when Woods appeared poised
to make a charge, particularly with a purely struck 3-iron from
232 yards on the par-3 eighth hole, a high draw that stopped 4
feet away from the toughest hole location on the golf course.
There were bogeys waiting for him, though.
His ball was buried in the thick collar of a bunker on No. 9,
and he had to make a 5-footer for bogey. He also chopped up No.
12 and had to make a nice pitched up the shaved slope to save
another bogey.
“He's been missing a lot of fairways,
and when Tiger is right, he can hit fairways that are 10 yards
wide,” Scott Hoch said.
No one is willing to count him out just
yet. Woods has been making history from the time he turned pro.
Another amazing chapter this week would rank as the greatest yet.
“If he wins this tournament, he'll
be my idol, that's for sure,” Garcia said.
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