Pebble provides tonic for Tiger

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This article was published 20/06/2010 (5816 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — If you were ever in doubt that golf’s world was holding its breath waiting for Tiger Woods to reclaim his greatness, you only had to hear the volume of its exhale Saturday evening, when he walked to the 18th green at Pebble Beach after the kind of golf shot that makes ordinary mortals go weak at the knees.

Dead stymied, by all appearances, behind a fairway pine, 260 yards from the hole, he pulled out a 3-wood and hit a magnificent, sweeping fade that started out over the Pacific Ocean and sought out the flagstick at the 543-yard, par-five as though it had eyes.

“Come on!” he yelled, as it homed in. “Come on!”

The ball came to rest 20 feet above the hole, and the roar that greeted its arrival echoed for most of his walk to the green. As he doffed his cap to acknowledge the crowd, he was so completely back in his element — in control of his golf ball if not his life, charging up the U.S. Open leaderboard — it hardly mattered that he was, at that moment, still four strokes behind the leaders.

Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell, the 36-hole leader, and the absurdly long-hitting Dustin Johnson were battling it out in the final group, barely halfway into their rounds — and one of them may well be holding the trophy Sunday evening.

Johnson strung together an impressive 5-under 66 to get to 6-under 207, including birdies at the 17th and 18th, having hit both greens with towering 6-irons. When McDowell bogeyed the 16th and 17th and could do no better than par at the last, Johnson had a three-stroke lead to take into the final round.

“It’s why we play golf, it’s what I’ve dreamed of my whole life — to win the U.S. Open,” said Johnson. “If I keep hitting my driver straight, like I did today, I’m going to be tough to beat.”

Woods’s 66 contained eight birdies, five of them in a back-nine rally that seemed to shake the earth. From seven strokes back with 24 bodies ahead of him when he teed it up, he overtook all but two.

That was some round of golf — and it set up some Sunday finish, with Woods (1-under 212), Ernie Els (72-213) and Phil Mickelson (73-214) all in hot pursuit of the trophy.

“It’s been a while,” Woods said. “I hadn’t played good enough to give anyone a reason to cheer.

“It was nice to play a good back nine and put myself back in the championship — everyone was so jacked up, and it was a fun atmosphere to play in front of.

“But like I’ve told you guys, it’s been a process, and I’ve been building, and today, I was able to hit the kind of shots I know I can hit.”

Like the ones that led to birdies on 16, 17 and 18, where he looked like the best player on the planet.

“The putt at 17,” Woods said, of a 15-foot downhiller with at least seven feet of right-to-left break, “was a joke. I was just trying to get it close, and it went in.”

Johnson made a similar putt on 17.

He announced his presence when he ripped a 284-yard 3-iron off the tee at the par-four 4th, to within five feet of the flag, and holed it for eagle to get to 3-under, one shot off the lead. He hit two more 3-irons to reach the green at the par-five 6th and caught McDowell with a birdie, then took the lead when he nearly aced the 99-yard seventh.

The 25-year-old from Columbia, S.C., ought to have been a hot favourite coming in, considering he has won the last two AT&T Pebble Beach events.

He’s got all kinds of game, and it’s not just his distance, though Woods called him “stupid long.”

“The course is playing really difficult,” Johnson said, “but I’m hitting my driver really straight, and that’s a big advantage. I hit a few loose shots, but I got it together again down the stretch and made a couple of nice birdies there at the end.”

Woods has never won a major coming from behind. Johnson has never won a major. Buckle up.

— Canwest News Service