CHASKA, Minn. — Yesterday afternoon, on a windy, yet sweltering day on a golf course that just goes on and on and on, Tiger Woods demonstrated why everyone in golf chases him. And as often as not, without any chance of catching him.
When a guy can throw second-shot irons into 600-yard Par 5s, knock it over the back of a 518-yard Par 4 (yeah, a Par 4 you wussies) and make three birdies in a row on the back side to give himself a four shot cushion heading into Saturday’s Day 3 of the 91st PGA Golf Championship, you know you are watching true greatness.
Not than anyone hasn’t noticed that Tiger is the greatest of them all, but watching him live, in the flesh, is not so much a lesson in golf, but a lesson in life. Watching Tiger is like watching a combination of passion, precision, skill, concentration, calm, fury, art, science, strength, touch, anger management and what results when one human being works harder than anybody else.
Yesterday afternoon, Tiger fired a two-under 70 to go with his five-under 67 in Round 1, to finish 36 holes in the final major championship of 2009 with 136 total, eight under par. He’s 8-0 in major championships in which he has held the second-round lead.
He’s four shots up on Irishman Padraig Harrington, Fijian Vijay Singh, fellow American Lucas Glover and Brit Ross Fisher. Incredibly, among the Top 12 players in the event, Woods is one of only two Americans. By the way, only 12 players are in red figures.
Unlike Thursday’s first round, Tiger made three bogeys today — at 1, 10 and 18. But he also made five birdies and they were all sweet. With sweat pouring off his face, he hit all but three shots right on the nose and tamed Hazeltine National Golf Club, a monster of a 7,600-yard grind. This is a golf course that is long and tough and in the wind, it’s longer and tougher.
“It was a tough day out there with the wind and the heat,” said Woods, in the press tent afterward. “The wind was blustery. It would gust up and it really affected your ability to maintain a good solid putting stance. By the time I got out there in the afternoon, the greens were bumpy too. The wind dried everything out. the conditions were tough.”
Since it was tough for Tiger, it was probably a lot tougher for the rest of the field. Fisher was the best among the leaders with a 68. Ernie Els fired a 68 and finished at one-under, six back of Woods. But Harrington, who still sits in second place was one-over, 73. David Toms, Hunter Mahan and Robert Allenby were each 75, Alvaro Quiroz went from 69 to 76, Paul Goydos went 70-78, Michael Bradley went 70-80, Matthew Goggin went 69-80, Mike Weir went 74-81.
“The only way you win a tournament like this is just plod along, one shot at a time and see what happens,” Woods added. “That’s all I did out there today. It was hot and windy and dry and really difficult. I just plodded along and tried to do the best I could.”
His best has given him a four-shot lead with 36 to play. And it also thrilled thousands on a hot, windy day near the prairie.
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