CHASKA, Minn.
If you listen carefully, you can already hear the trumpets at blustery Hazeltine.
Golf’s major king might have abdicated his throne for 14 months following reconstructive left knee surgery. But Tiger Woods’ post-op major coronation at the 91st PGA Championship is right on schedule.
On a day when the wicked winds of the North played havoc with much of the field, Woods marched to 7 under and a four-stroke advantage on a quintet of players at the midpoint of the season’s final major.
For the few who need reminding, Woods is perfect from the 36-hole Slam pole; he’s 8-0 when tied or leading a major after two rounds. That’s officially uber-absurd. Such infallibility is inhuman almost by definition. It’s also how one accumulates 14 green jackets, claret jugs and silver whatnots by the age of 32.
Factor in all PGA Tour events, and he has converted 12 straight times from the 36-hole lead. That’s how a guy collects 70 PGA Tour titles at 33.
And he isn’t just tied or leading; he has more than doubled up the rest of the field. Sure, eventually he’s bound to blow one of these things. But don’t even think it’s happening this weekend - not with a four-stroke lead in the midst of a three-victory roll with a belly full of 0-for-’09 (in the majors) fire.
Nope. Cue up the steam and tell the fat lady to start gargling.
“Just because I’m 12-for-12 doesn’t mean anything tomorrow,” Woods said. “You’ve got to go out there and play, and those shots and things I did 12 times doesn’t do a damn bit of good tomorrow.”
As always, the question is: Who is going to catch him?
Tiger simply doesn’t choke. Find one single, solitary example of Woods gassing it in any event… ever, much less a major.
Asked if he could think of an instance when he choked in a major, Woods simply shook his head in the negative. He wouldn’t verbalize the response, quite likely because the honest answer would make him look arrogant. Everybody else who has ever picked up a club has choked at some point under pressure. Not Woods.
Sometimes it just doesn’t happen for him in the majors; this is his 50th Slam start, and he’s seeking his 15th victory. His game isn’t always perfect. Sometimes he sprays it around off the tee as he did at Turnberry, his career Achilles’ heel costing him just the second missed cut of his professional major career at last month’s British Open.
Sometimes he doesn’t putt as well as only he can; nobody in the game’s history has ever made more putts from 20 feet or missed fewer from six. Struggles on the greens cost him in the season’s first two majors, resulting in tied-for-sixth finishes at the Masters and U.S. Open.
But he has never given away a major. So if somebody else wants to wrench the Wanamaker Trophy away from him this weekend, he’s going to have to come get him.
Three-time major winner and reigning PGA champion Padraig Harrington (3-under 141) was paired with Woods in the past few rounds. The Dubliner played feisty, indefatigable golf at Firestone and Hazeltine. But in the final analysis, he couldn’t get it done.
Next.
Season Slam sensation Ross Fisher (141) made a little run at Woods on Friday. The 28-year-old Brit with just two European Tour titles surprised most insiders by following his fifth-place finish at the U.S. Open by tying for 13th at the British Open, which hardly does justice to his impact on the event.
Fisher leapt into the lead in the finale at Turnberry with birdies on his first two holes before a dreaded snowman tracked him down at No. 5, a quadruple bogey freezing his upstart bid. Fisher briefly pulled into a tie with Woods at 5 under late Friday afternoon before a pair of closing bogeys sent him tumbling back to reality.
Perhaps recently crowned U.S. Open champion Lucas Glover (141) will mount a weekend charge. The 29-year-old has a thin resume (only two PGA Tour victories), but he also has a paucity of major scar tissue. Maybe he’ll rise to the moment and tangle with Tiger.
The most likely challenger would seem to be Vijay Singh (141). Saturday’s third round will see the three-time major champion, 34-time PGA Tour winner and former World No. 1 take his turn in the final-pairing crucible with Woods.
“I know Vijay isn’t going to make a bunch of mistakes. He doesn’t,” said Woods, who has strapped more than a few head-to-head thrashings on the 46-year-old Fijian. “He’s won [22] tournaments in his 40s. … It’s going to be a lot of fun for both of us tomorrow.”
History says it’s only certain to be a lot of fun for Woods.
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