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August 22, 2002
SAMMAMISH, Wash. -- The week after the final major championship of the season usually finds Tiger Woods on a course with thick trees.
That's about the only thing Sahalee and Firestone have in common.
The NEC Invitational is still a World Golf Championship. It still pays $1-million to the winner. And Woods' name is still on the trophy, the only name on the trophy.
But when Woods stepped onto the first tee for Wednesday morning's practice round, it didn't take long for the three-time defending champion to realize he wasn't in Ohio any more.
"It's different playing up in the Pacific Northwest," he said. "The ball doesn't fly quite as far because the air is a little bit heavier. I hit a lot of 7-irons from 150. The 7-iron I hit last week (in the PGA Championship) on Sunday at 17 was 195."
Woods would rather be at Firestone, where he won the first three NEC Invitationals. He has shot in the 60s in his past eight rounds on the Akron, Ohio, course.
Instead, Sahalee is the course he must conquer starting today as he tries to become the first player in 75 years to win the same event four years in a row.
Walter Hagen won the PGA Championship from 1924-27, a match-play major at French Lick at Indiana, Olympia Fields at Chicago, Salisbury Golf Club at Long Island and Cedar Crest at Dallas.
Woods' streak could be in trouble. Sahalee was site of the '98 PGA Championship, where he broke par once in four days and finished in a tie for 10th.
U.S. AMATEUR: Teenagers Henry Liaw and Charlie Beljan advanced to the round of 32 at the U.S. Amateur at Oakland Hills in Bloomfield Hills, Mich.
Liaw, 16, eliminated Chen-Chih Chiang 3 and 2, and Beljan, 17, beat Anthony Kim 1-up.
Liaw of Rowland Heights, Calif., won the 2001 U.S. Junior Amateur in San Antonio, and Beljan won this year's Junior Amateur in Atlanta.
By winning the Junior Amateur, Beljan was exempt into this year's field, which was cut to 64 after two days of stroke play.
Beljan of Mesa, Ariz., squeaked into the final 64 having qualified late Tuesday on the first playoff hole, and Liaw earned the 26th seed by playing the two seeding rounds at par.
After two rounds of match play today, the field will be at eight. Match play continues Friday and Saturday, and the 36-hole final is Sunday.