CHASKA, Minn. — Tiger Woods wasn’t particularly good on Saturday. He made two birdies (should have had six) and one bogey and shot a one-under par 71.
But at this year’s 91st PGA Championship at Hazeltine National Golf Club, as long as Tiger doesn’t do anything stupid, he should win his fifth PGA title.
Saturday, on a hot, muggy day that always looked like rain, Woods birdied the second, bogeyed the fourth (with a Scott Taylor-like three-putt) and birdied 16, to finish at one-under for the day and eight-under for the tournament.
Heading into Sunday’s final round, Woods is at 208, two shots better than Korea’s Y.E. Yang and Ireland’s Padraig Harrington. Henrik Stenson and Lucas Glover are four back at 212. The rest of the field needs a miracle.
That’s because Tiger just doesn’t blow the lead when he gets it. He’s won 47 of 50 Tour events when leading after 54 holes. He’s 8-0 in Majors when he leads after the second round. An Irish betting service has already paid off on Woods tickets. They know he’s not going to blow this lead. They can just look at Saturday’s grind and say, “If he plays on Sunday, just a little bit like Tiger, he’ll win by five or more.”
Woods already has five Tour victories this year and he came into this week’s PGA with back-to-back wins in the Buick and the WGC Bridgestone Invitational. There is no golfer on the planet better than he is right now, but in the press tent after the round, Woods made sure he didn’t give anyone any juice for Day 4.
“You have a lot of guys who understand how to win major championships,” he said. “They believe in themselves. They know how to get it done. They are all very capable of winning this thing. I will have to be very good tomorrow.”
Tiger Woods is on the verge of winning his 15th career Major and even though he should romp on Sunday, the other players in this little argument are pretty damn good. Sunday will be an entertaining day on a golf course that will be so tough (and so long), neither luck nor magic will have anything to do with the outcome.
And that’s exactly why Tiger Woods should win.