Can anyone catch the Tiger?

Woods leads Duval and Bjorn by 6 shots. At stake: a career Slam and Faldo's record.

MIZELL E-mail: Click here Archive

By HUBERT MIZELL

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 23, 2000

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland -- David Duval craved today's mano-a-mano Old Course combat with Tiger Woods. Leading by six strokes, Woods, the reigning U.S. Open and PGA champion is a near certainty to add the British Open, but Duval, from Jacksonville, can't wait to take his swings at golf's bully from Orlando.

David and Goliath.

"Tiger will be going for the Grand Slam, while I'm fighting to win my first major championship," Duval said. "I'll probably need 64 to 66 to have a chance, but I want to stare Tiger in the eye, to be a part of whatever, the circus or slugfest."

Woods, after making no bogeys in 63 holes at Pebble Beach and St. Andrews, had two clunkers. He hadn't three-putted in six major-championship rounds, then his putter malfunctioned at the second, 10th and 17th holes. "From 80 feet at the 10th," he said, "but the other two were stinkers."

Didn't much matter.

Needing this victory for his Slam, Woods still had plenty of ammo to achieve 67, hoisting him to 16-under-par 200. Nick Faldo is the record-holder, going minus-18 in 1990, the lowest score at St. Andrews, and the most under par in Open history.

Woods needs 69 to outdo Faldo, which would give him history's hottest numbers in three majors, including the Masters and U.S. Open. "I'll be pulling against that," Faldo said.

Asked if he has blown a lead so large, Woods said, "I don't believe so." He knows so. "I'm glad it'll be me and David, because that's just one more motivation," Woods said. Duval birdied the 18th, earning a pairing with Woods. Duval had 66, tying him at 206 with Thomas Bjorn, who shot 68 during another sunny, gentle-wind afternoon in a week with the best weather here since Mary Queen of Scots.

"My putting touch seems to have returned, which was my main problem," said Duval, who won four times by April on the 1999 PGA Tour and hasn't since. "People have wanted to see No. 1 against No. 2 in the world. So here we go. I think I'm ready to give Tiger a chase, but it's not good to be spotting him six shots."

Woods and Duval are buddies. In January, to begin the tour season, Woods asked Duval to share his leased jet to Hawaii. Girlfriends went along, Julie McCarthy at Duval's side and Joanna Jagoda with Woods. "We're great friends," Woods said. "I'm going to enjoy coming down the Sunday stretch, the 1-2 players in the world. That's the ultimate."

Duval's best chance may be Woods turning an ankle or busting his putter and having to work the greens with a 3-wood. "Yeah, it's possible," Woods said when asked whether he could lose a six-shot lead. "Bigger the lead, the more the pressure, because if you don't win it'll be something that eats really deep."

Woods halted his astonishing bogey-free run of 63 holes in majors by missing a 2-foot putt at the second. Then he birdied the third, eighth and ninth.

At the 379-yard 10th, Woods drove the green but three-putted for par. Again, he instantly resurged, making birdies at 12, 13 and 14. It would occur once more. Woods three-putted the 17th for bogey, then lasered home a 10-foot birdie putt at the 18th.

This isn't Greg Norman or Colin Montgomerie. Woods, in his new and higher 21st-century gear, shows little sign of blowup propensities. Bad rounds seldom come in any fashion. In 47 rounds this year, he has been higher than 72 just three times, the worst being 75.

Duval has 70-70-66 despite an aching back. "It's better than at anytime all week," said Duval, who opted to stand during his interview in the media tent. "Doctors told me not to sit down until I was ready to lie down."

He looked for any emotional lift. "I once won from seven shots down the final round at Houston," Duval said. But that wasn't the British Open and his competition was not Tiger Woods.

"I'll give it every ounce of energy I have," Duval said. "If I get 64 to 66 and Tiger still rolls to the championship, I'll smile and shake his hand. But I'd like to show Tiger that I've got some game, too."

© St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.

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