Tiger's Soft, Boring Play Opens Door

CHASKA, Minn. -- So here we thought Tiger Woods' weekend would be a summer breeze, much like the vision of a high-heeled Prince riding his motorcycle in "Purple Rain,'' which is the lone factoid I can provide about the country roads and middle-of-nowhere milieu surrounding the Hazeltine National Golf Club.

Instead, this was a day when new, peculiar words were introduced to the Woods lexicon. There was "skanky,'' used by CBS commentator Nick Faldo to describe two terrible shots on No. 15, which prompted Tiger to slip into whiny-baby mode and swing his club violently. And there was "choking,'' whispered cryptically Saturday across the PGA Championship landscape as his four-shot lead disappeared. Just the day before, Woods seemed befuddled when a media member actually uttered the c-word at a press conference, inquiring, "In your opinion, has there ever been a single instance in a major where you've done what you consider to be choking?''

---

---

Tiger just stared, did a slow burn and shook his head, as if he'd never entertained the concept, as if he won't allow it to enter his steel-trap psyche.

"We'll take that to be a no?'' the moderator wondered.

"Be creative,'' Woods cracked. "You usually are.''

It wouldn't be fair or accurate to say he choked, not when he survived a mid-round onslaught by several unforeseen challengers to carry a two-stroke advantage into Sunday's final round. But this wasn't the Tiger who once attacked and devoured when owning weekend leads. He played too much defense and not enough offense, opening the door to his new (and only) rival, Padraig Harrington, and others while injecting suspense into what presumably was an inevitable romp to his 15th major title. In truth, he played boring golf, barely moving the meter while Harrington and Y.E. Yang were turning a foregone conclusion into a real, live tournament.

"I tried to be very patient out there. I had a lead, played conservative and didn't give myself a lot of looks. I was lag-putting a lot,'' Woods said. "I just felt with my lead, I erred on the side of caution most of the time. If I did have a good look at it, I took aim right at it. Otherwise, I was just dumping the ball on the green and 2-putting.''

To be selfish, it's good for us when Woods doesn't dominate.

Rather than prepare for a coronation Sunday, as we did when he pummeled fields at Augusta National and Pebble Beach and St. Andrews in his younger years, America might see great theater. That's assuming Harrington continues to summon the form that led to a memorable duel with Woods last weekend and victories in the final two majors last year, when Tiger was recovering from reconstructive knee surgery. You have to like Paddy's gumption. Noting that Woods is 14-for-14 in majors when leading after 54 holes, and that he has lost only once in his career when leading by two strokes or more after three rounds, the likable Irishman issued what appeared to be a challenge.

"In fairness to Tiger, that's not going to last forever. Maybe he'll be 60 when it's broken, but it's not going to last forever," he said. "Maybe I'll be the guy who does it. I suppose that's the way to look at it."

Woods vs. Harrington is the best spectacle golf has to offer, as we saw seven days ago at Firestone. "Paddy is an extremely hard worker, very patient, and it's really nice to see someone who works that hard at his game to accomplish his goals,'' Woods said admiringly.

With Phil Mickelson struggling through the breast-cancer ordeals of his wife and mother, Harrington has become the one man seemingly capable of beating down Woods in a major. He failed last weekend, melting down with a triple-bogey at No. 16 -- while Tiger was nailing an incredible 8-iron approach -- after officials put the duo on the clock for slow play. But 14 years ago, for what it's worth, Harrington and a mortician friend, Jody Flanagan, beat Woods and John Harris in the Walker Cup.

"My friend would not be happy being called the mortician,'' Harrington said to media laughter. "Yeah, we won in the foursomes, but that's a long time ago. It's a new game, a new game tomorrow, so I don't think that's going to be playing in his mind.''

So how does he beat Woods? "To get a win, you've got to beat him by three. That's a tall order, but everybody in this situation who is behind is going to think, 'Well, you know, we have nothing to lose.'

"You've got to have that attitude and go for it,'' he said. "I've got to stand there on every shot and think to myself, 'Well, so what if I hit a bad shot?' I've got to have the attitude to just fire it up and for those shots and just be concerned about my good shots. If I'm going to catch three shots, that's the way to do it. You can't be in any shape or form cautious out there.''


Turns out Woods will play with Yang, who finished his round first and thus will play with Tiger though he's tied with Harrington. It's a stupid rule, like many of golf's ancient bylaws, but if morning rain creates havoc with the final-round schedule, there's a chance the trio will play together. Yang, for the record, actually beat Woods in China three years ago, but at 37, the South Korean is entering virgin territory as a contender in a major.

"It will be my first time playing with him, so I'll try not to go over par," he said, smiling. "But I've been looking forward to it. I've thought about playing with Tiger recently. Surprised it came true so fast."

Not that Woods will need motivation as he tries to win his first major in 14 months and narrow the gap between him and Jack Nicklaus, the all-time leader with 18 major titles, to a mere three. But he does remember losing to Yang in Shanghai. "Yeah, Y.W. played great,'' he said. "I believe he won by two, I think.'' As he answered, rain battered the interview tent in the media center. Woods looked upward, cherishing the thought of an easier course.

"Yeah, I think it's gonna get softer,'' he said with a chuckle.

Woods was asked how a rival's mind and focus are impacted when playing with him. He used the question as an opportunity to rip the media, of all things, which tells us veteran Tigerologists that he isn't thrilled to be only two strokes ahead. "I think more than anything, it's the amount of distractions inside the ropes,'' he said. "There's a lot of movement, a lot of cameras, a lot of media, a lot of people moving, and it can get to you at times. It's gotten to me and it's gotten to my playing partners. You know, other groups don't quite have to deal with that amount of distraction inside the ropes. We all have to deal with it outside the ropes, but insde, it gets a little bit interesting at times.''

Of course, the presence of Woods -- and his blood-red Sunday shirt -- contributes to meltdowns. "I just go out and I play my own game,'' he said of his final-day mindset in majors. "You play and see what happens. You have to realize, we're fighting for a major championship.

We are all nervous out there. I'm in the same boat as everyone else, but you're got to go out and execute shots, and that's the fun of it.

That's the rush, the thrill of it. That's why we play.''

Nervous? Tiger Woods? Not buying it.

The massive galleries at Hazeltine are rooting for Woods, aware that history is playing out before their eyes. Harrington realizes he's the bad guy in the equation, but he also senses that fans and media want Tiger to be pushed. He's the latest to try. Good luck, guy. "I get the impression that a lot of people who are cheering me on are wanting me to push him along, but they still want Tiger to win,'' he said. "You know, they want to support the underdog until he catches up and then it's back to supporting Tiger. So be it. That's fine with me. I'll serve my time.''

He makes it sounds like a prison sentence. Most likely, these four hours indeed will feel like solitary confinement. But for one day, Tiger Woods opened his hermetically sealed door and let hope creep in.

"You could really feel that there's a real championship going on around you," said Ernie Els, whose career isn't done just yet as he lurks five strokes behind Woods. ``It's not a runaway deal. It looked like a runaway thing at the end of (Friday), but it looks like the guys are really set to give Tiger a go, and the crowd could sense that."

Is it possible, then, that a choking gene is somewhere in the DNA of Elrdrick Woods? Or was he simply teasing in the third round?

My guess is, being skanky is only a temporary condition.