Saturday, August 19, 2006

Never On Sunday

Doesn't this all seem so familiar?
Like deja vu all over again?
No wonder.
Tiger Woods is tied for the lead entering the final round of another major championship -- this one the Buick Open disguised as the PGA Championship -- and he always wins when he's ahead with 18 holes to play in a major.
Eleven for 11.
And soon to be 12 for 12.
Probably.
How can you pick against Woods on Sunday of a major? As I've said before, he's the best closer since the guillotine.
Someone asked Geoff Ogilvy, one of my new favorites because of his thoughtfulness not to mention a wonderful game, if Woods wins because others fall apart around him. Mostly, Ogilvy said, Woods just plays better than everyone else.
That's why he's such a favorite today. His game looks as sharp as in 2000 and we know how good it was then.
He's doing a great job of managing his way around a course and with his swing dialed in, there are no weaknesses.
Asked Saturday if he was surprised, considering he missed the cut at the U.S. Open two months ago, to have won two straight tournaments and to be on the verge of a third, including his second straight major, Woods just smiled and shook his head.
"Uh-uh," he said.
Neither is anyone else.
If this is the Sunday that finally trips up Woods, it will likely be because Medinah is so soft that someone may shoot a ridiculous number and beat him. He gets beat, you know. Rich Beem did it. Others have.
Tiger loves majors where pars are what you play for and birdies are like gold. At Medinah, softened by the rain, birdies are like M&Ms at a kid's birthday party. They're everywhere.
But he can make them, too.
He knows he'll have to make a bunch on Sunday. I'm guessing he'll make enough.

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