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SAN DIEGO: Tiger Woods, hobbled by his painful left knee, pulled off
a remarkable birdie-eagle finish Saturday to seize the third-round
lead in the US Open golf championship.
Woods, who was left wincing after many of his
shots on the back nine, got a feel-good moment at 17 when his chip
from a difficult downhill lie in greenside rough took one hop and
found the cup.
At 18, his second shot from the fairway drew a
grimace, but he rolled a 35-footer into the heart of the cup to
complete a 1-under 70 for 3-under 210.
With the eagle he leapfrogged over England’s
Lee Westwood, who was in the clubhouse on 2-under 211 after a 70.
Despite his difficulties with his surgically
repaired left knee, Woods is a potent threat to claim his third US
Open and 14th major championship Sunday on the par-71, 7,643-yard
Torrey Pines South course.
He is 13-for-13 in majors when he has held at
least a share of the 54-hole lead.
American Rocco Mediate led for much of the day,
settling for a 1-over 72 that left him on 1-under 212.
Australia’s 2006 US Open champion Geoff Ogilvy
carded a 72 for 1-over 214, where he was joined by American D.J.
Trahan (73).
Overnight leader Stuart Appleby plummeted down
the leaderboard early, finishing with a 79 for 218. Sweden’s
Robert Karlsson, who started the day tied with Woods and Mediate one
stroke behind Appleby, posted a 75 for 215.
Woods, who had surgery to repair cartilage
damage in his left knee two days after finishing runner-up to Trevor
Immelman at the Masters, hadn’t played a competitive round since
then until this week.
He put himself in contention on Friday with a
superb 68, but couldn’t immediately build on that momentum
Saturday.
For the second time in three days he
double-bogeyed the first, and he was fresh off a bogey at 12 and
3-over for the day when he arrived at the par-five 13th.
His tee shot was outside the ropes on the right,
but from there he reached the back of the green and sank a monster
65-footer for eagle.
He gave a shot back at the next, and after his
tee shot at 15, pain in his knee caused him to bend over sharply
then steady himself with his club.
Nevertheless, he made his par, and parred 16 as
well despite finding the rough off the tee.
On 17, all the grimaces were replaced by a grin
of disbelief when his chip found the hole to move him to 1-under,
one stroke behind Westwood.
“I just hit it too hard,” Woods said. “It
came out a little warm, and when I hit it, I figured I would have
eight to 10 feet coming back,” he said.
“It’s pure luck when it goes in on one hop
like that,” said Woods, who was still laughing as caddie Steve
Williams helped him clamber up the steep bank.
That took him to the par-five finishing hole
where he shrugged off the pain of his second shot to grab the lead.
Woods, who has been terse in discussing his
injury throughout the week admitted his knee was “more sore” on
Saturday.
“As soon as I get out of here, I’m going to
put some ice on it,” he said. “It does affect what I’m trying
to do. It acts up on certain shots. I can’t say it’s a driver
and I can’t say it’s a wedge. Certain shots I just feel it more
on.”
-- AFP
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