Capelle On Golf

After making a birdie at the second, Tiger Woods went into a prevent defense the rest of the way, more intent on keeping a lead than extending it.

You know how well this strategy works in football, and it did nothing for Tiger as well. He had trouble getting his irons close, his drives missed the fairways on the par 5s, leading to zero birdies on the long holes after he recorded five in the first two rounds, and he actually missed a three foot putt on the fourth hole.

It all resulted in a 71, tied for the thirteenth best round of the day. The bad news for Tiger is that his four shot lead is down to two. The good news is that Y.E. Yang and Padraig Harrington, his closest pursuers at -6, now only have 18 holes to overcome the man who’s a perfect 14 for 14 in this position.

We all know that Tiger’s playing partners in the final round routinely suffer meltdowns on Sunday when he’s got the lead. I’d be interested to know what his record is for eliminating competitors on Saturday’s as well. This time Vijay Singh looked like a contender on the front with a 35 despite a couple of short missed putts. But a 40 on the back removed him from contention as he is now trails by eight.

Ernie Els, another triple major winner who was making the leaderboard look so good for awhile, closed with three straight bogeys to fall five off the pace.

The lucky winner of the I-get-to-play-with-Tiger sweepstakes on Sunday is Yang (67), who missed the cut at the Masters in his only major this year. Ladbrokes has him at 20/1, but I wonder if his chances are really that good.

Meanwhile, despite the media’s insistence that Harrington loves playing with Tiger (and maybe he does), I suspect that he would rather avoid Tiger and his mob on Sunday. After making four bogeys in Tiger’s company on the first 17 holes on Friday, Padraig said enough is enough. He bogeyed 18 as well, avoiding another round with Woods. The result was a 69 that was bogey free until the 18th hole when Padraig once again employed his Tiger Avoidance Strategy with a bogey, surrendering the honors to Yang.

The weather forecast says there is a 50% chance of rain tonight and a 60% chance tomorrow. So, if the course softens up and players can shoot at the flags, Tiger may be forced out of his conservative mode. Under these conditions, he could light it up and run away with his fifth PGA.

But low scoring conditions also mean that those within four shots of Woods that don’t have to play with him (Harrington, Henrik Stenson, and Lucas Glover might have a shot at going low and overtaking Tiger.

Ladbrokes now has Tiger at 1/5, which is probably about right. But Harrington (12/1), Stenson (25/1 - 68), and Glover (40/1 - 71) look tempting should golf’s answer to a T-bill finally lose a major after leading after 54 holes.

Faldo Makes the Call
A close up of Tiger putting early in the round showed the thick black line that he and seemingly all pros now draw on their ball. The mark is used to help them get set down their chosen line. According to Faldo, “That’s (the line) what they (the USGA) should ban, putting a line on the ball. It’s an artificial aide.” Great call, Nick!

Rory McIlroy the Non-Closer
McIlroy is only 20 and he may just be gaining experience prior to breaking through, but for now he appears to have trouble closing out his better rounds. Case in point is this year’s PGA. In round 1 he was three under after 6, then was two over for the last 12.

In the second round he was two under after 15, then played the last three in three over. And today he got it to minus three though 12, then played the last six in two over. Still, he’s one under for the championship (13t) and in good position for his second top 10 in a major this year.