Yesterday was a story of Could Haves and Should Haves for Tiger Woods. He began it at seven in the morning in order to complete a second round hitherto suspended due to weather concerns, and his play was uneven at best; the 11 holes he negotiated early produced three birdies, two bogeys, and a handful of par saves. After that, he went through a third round in which he had the opportunity to go really low, only to be done in by poor putting.
Consider this: Woods was tied for 19th, six back on the leaderboard when he teed off for his third 18 at the PGA Championship. He hit the ground running, though, and a scorching front nine that led to five birdies found him just two off the pace at the turn. He was typically errant with the driver but nothing short of spectacular with his irons; he crowded the flag on practically every hole, and he found his aggressive lines rewarded by great reads with the flatstick.
Unfortunately, Woods could not sustain his momentum. He finished with 10 straight pars, eminently makeable birdie opportunities on seven of his last eight holes notwithstanding. In part, it was due to the Bellerive Country Club greens manifesting their less-than-desirable state as the afternoon wore on. In larger measure, it was due to exhaustion; as he admitted in his post-mortem, he was drained from having had to go through a long day. “I’m tired. I’m definitely tired [from] mentally grinding that hard for 29 holes in this heat.”
All the same, Woods can take comfort in the fact that his second straight 66 has catapulted him to sixth heading into the final 18. Significantly, he wound up victorious the last two times he posted similar sandwiched scores in a Grand Slam event. And considering that he didn’t even know if he could pick up a club again at this point last year, his being in the hunt for the second straight major speaks volumes of the strides he has made. Today may well be the day he resumes his chase of living legend Jack Nicklaus’ haul of 18 titles in the sport’s premier stops. The story of Cans and Wills is waiting to be completed, and it’s up to him to write it as he must.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994.
