Charlotte.com: Golf

The Shark is circling with 2-shot lead in British

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 04:49 EDT

Gusts that approached 50 mph required Greg Norman to manufacture shots from his 53-year-old memory Saturday in the British Open, which he called among the toughest tests he has ever faced in golf. It only got harder after he finished another chapter in this incredible script at Royal Birkdale.

Norman played the perfect pitch shot over a pot bunker to within a foot of the cup for par, giving him a 2-over 72 and a two-shot lead over defending champion Padraig Harrington and K.J. Choi.

With so much baggage behind him in the majors, Norman did all he could late Saturday not to look too far ahead. He is 18 holes from becoming golf's oldest major champion, but wouldn't bite when asked what it would feel like to win.

"Ask me that question tomorrow night if that happens, OK?" he said.

Norman is 1-6 when he has at least a share of the 54-hole lead in the majors, his only victory coming at Turnberry in 1986. His career is defined as much by the majors he lost as the two British Open titles he won. How would he reply to those who said he couldn't possible win?

"I didn't hear any of that," Norman said.

All he would acknowledge was that he was at 2-over 212, in the lead at a major with an opportunity no one saw coming.

"I've got to go out there and play my game," Norman said. "I'll answer a lot of different questions tomorrow night if I have to."

The facts in what seems like fiction are that Norman played the final eight holes without a bogey and emerged from a four-way logjam at the turn to leave himself one round away from a feat that might top Tiger Woods winning the U.S. Open on one leg.

The rest of the details are hard to believe.

This is no longer the thrill-seeking Great White Shark who used to routinely beat up on the best players in every major until it was time to award the trophy. This is a part-time golfer who had not played in a major for three years. The only reason he entered this British Open was to practice for a couple of senior majors in the coming weeks.

"It is different, no question," Norman said. "The players are probably saying, 'My God, what's he doing up there?'"

He will be in the last group Sunday with Harrington, who doesn't see Norman as anything but a two-time British Open champion.

"When he's interested, Greg Norman can really play," said Harrington, who overcame his wind-blown mistakes with four birdies for a 72. "He's well capable of putting it together, as he's shown in the first three rounds, and I don't think anybody should expect anything but good play from him tomorrow."

Norman and Harrington were the only two players among the final 11 groups to break 75.

No one broke par. Nine players failed to break 80, including David Duval, who was three shots behind until a triple bogey on the opening hole. His 83 matched his worst score in a British Open.

Former U.S. Open champion Jim Furyk was tied for the lead until he took two double bogeys and shot 43 on the back nine on his way to a 77. Choi lost the lead for good with a three-putt bogey on the 15th and wound up with a 75.

The wind raged before dawn and was relentless, measuring 30 mph when the first player teed off at breakfast and holding steady at close to 40 mph during the heart of the third round - making it hard to appreciate what Norman was doing.

Norman is believed to be the oldest player to lead after 54 holes in a major. Julius Boros was 53 years and 3 months when he was tied for the lead in the 1973 U.S. Open, won by Johnny Miller at Oakmont. Boros is the oldest major champion, 48 when he captured the 1968 PGA Championship in San Antonio.

Maybe it was just a coincidence, but Jack Nicklaus was in town on Friday. He was 46 and seemingly out to pasture when he shot 30 on the back nine at Augusta National in 1986 to win the Masters for a sixth time. Norman was a runner-up that year, naturally.

Nicklaus saw a few similarities with Norman's bid at the British Open.

"He'll remember how to play when and if he gets in a position to win a golf tournament," Nicklaus said.

That's just what Norman was doing on Saturday. After two bogeys through three holes, leaving him three shots behind, he was 120 yards away from the green at No. 5 when he asked for a 5-iron before asking for the yardage.

"The yardage was mentioned to me, but I didn't even pay attention," Norman said. "I already saw the shot. I knew that was the shot I had to play to get the ball close to the hole. And I did that probably three or four, maybe five times today."

He also showed some flair, each hole giving him confidence, peeling away time.

Norman hit driver over the corner of some mounding on the eighth hole, leaving him a short pitch to the green where he made a 10-foot birdie putt to get back in the game. Then came another 350-yard drive with the wind at his back, over the grassy humps, bending back toward the fairway and leaving a 6-iron into the par-5 17th for a birdie that stretched his lead.

"Obviously, I played well enough to put myself in this position," Norman said. "That comes from a good, safe, happy mind in a lot of ways. I'm very content in my mind, but at the same time, I have the lead now."

With a similar weather forecast for Sunday, anything can happen.

Davis Love III made the cut on the number at 9-over par, then made 16 pars, one birdie and one bogey in his round of 70 and moved up 54 spots into a tie for 15th. Ben Curtis, who won the Open five years ago, holed out for eagle with a 9-iron and hung on for a 70 to move up 33 spots into a tie for fifth at 7-over 217.

Asked what it would mean to win, Norman deferred - for now.

But he is back in the lead, and back in the game.

Norman has said since the day he arrived at Royal Birkdale that this links course is so fair that nobody is a favorite and anybody had a chance to win. That it includes a 53-year-old on his honeymoon is testament to that.

Perhaps the best feeling he had Saturday wasn't a 5-iron from 120 yards or any other shot he created from feel. It was the nerves and chills he felt walking to the first tee, a sign that he cared.

"It was an indicator for me that I was as nervous as I felt," Norman said. "I hadn't felt that way probably for 10 years, maybe even longer. I was excited about being there. I wanted to be there. And I hope I walk to the first tee feeling the same way tomorrow.

"I'm pretty sure I'm going to be," he said, "because it's a little different situation."

Duval's 83 worse than it sounds

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 23:01 EDT

David Duval finally put together two good rounds to get into contention at the British Open, raising the idea that he was close to breaking out of a mystifying slump.

Then came a triple-bogey Saturday on the first hole at Royal Birkdale, and an 83 on his card to match his highest score in this major. Yet none of that changed his outlook.

“I don't walk away from today's round any less confident than (Friday's) round,” Duval said. “If anything, I gained confidence with how I struck the ball and maintained my rhythm. You need good bounces on a day like this to have a good score. I just got behind it and couldn't get any nice things to happen.”

Starting the third round only three shots out of the lead, Duval's approach ballooned into the 40mph gusts and wound up 30 yards to the right of the green in hay so deep he took a one-shot penalty for relief, even though his drop wasn't in grass much shorter. He pounded that one over the green into another nasty lie, chipped out effectively to 25 feet and made triple-bogey.

“It didn't demoralize me,” Duval said. “I figured that's three bogeys everybody is going to make.”

He didn't make a par until the fifth hole, and didn't make a birdie all day. But he wasn't alone. Duval had one of nine rounds in the 80s.

“It's about as hard as I've ever played in,” Duval said ASSOCIATED PRESS

Ball kept moving on troublesome 10th green

It took about five hours to play the third round, thanks to two delays on the 10th hole from wind so strong the ball wouldn't stop moving.

The 10th green is among the most exposed at Royal Birkdale, and Anthony Kim was the first victim.

After replacing his ball, he noticed it moved a foot backward, then about 8 feet back, then a long way back. He had to remark it again, leaving himself a much longer birdie putt.

“I waited and wondered if they were going to call play,” Kim said, alluding to a delay on the green that took more than 30 minutes, such a long time that “it felt like we played two rounds.”

Even more bizarre was what happened to Fredrik Jacobson.

His ball was in the bunker on No.10, and when he got ready to step into the sand, he noticed the ball moving.

“The ball was rolling five times in the sand before I walked down in the bunker,” Jacobson said. “I was scared of getting a penalty shot if I walked down, because if it counted as addressing the ball and the ball moved … I could have been standing in that bunker still trying to replace that ball.”

Jacobson checked with a rules official, and the discussion caused a huge backup behind them. By the time Greg Norman and K.J. Choi got to the 10th tee, they had to wait 30 minutes.

Wind forces tees to be moved forward

Because of the forecast for strong wind, officials moved up the tee markers on the sixth, 11th and 16th holes, the latter two being the most significant. The 11th hole was shortened by 78 yards to play at about 360, while the 16th was moved 68 yards to the members' tee. It also changed the angle of attack.

“Actually, it was a harder tee ball on No.11 with those tees,” Heath Slocum said. “You had three bunkers to negotiate. We didn't worry about them the first two days.”

Mickelson loses hat, chance to win Open

It was sure easy to drop strokes in these conditions.

Phil Mickelson's cap blew off in the middle of the 15th fairway. A course worker retrieved it for Lefty, who shot a 76 that erased whatever faint hopes he had for contending today.

Prine Andrew, a little help please?

Paul Casey flared his second shot on the par-5 15th well right, near a cluster of gorse bushes and into deep grass. Marshals already were searching for the ball when Casey joined them, and then came a mild surprise. “I looked over and HRH was right there with them,” he said.

That would be His Royal Highness – Prince Andrew – who had been watching him play and decided to help look. He mentioned to Casey that he also had hit his shot in the same area when playing Royal Birkdale last week.

“I said, ‘Did you find it?' And he said, ‘Didn't bother looking,'” Casey said.

Casey never found his ball, had to return to the fairway and made a double-bogey in his round of 73.

Exchange rate set for prize money

British Open prize money of 4.2million pounds will be converted at 1.9985 based on the exchange rate published by the Federal Reserve at noon Friday.

American translation: The purse is $8,393,700, with first place at just over $1.5million. That means if a U.S. player wins, he will get 3,020 points toward the Ryder Cup.

Golfing in a fishbowl drowns Westwood

Lee Westwood had high hopes going into the British Open, which might have made it more difficult.

The Englishman finished third at the U.S. Open, his highest finish in a major, missing out on the playoff by one shot. He was among the favorites at Royal Birkdale, especially since it had been nearly 40 years since an Englishman had won a British Open in England. Alas, he struggled from the start and shot 78 to finish three rounds at 17-over 227.

“At the U.S. Open, I had no expectations,” Westwood said. “This week, it was just not possible. Look at this. I've just shot 78 and there's 20 people wanting to talk to me. There's just so much going on, especially with an English player.”

Observer News Services

Shark steady as the wind rages

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 23:00 EDT

Gusts that approached 50mph required Greg Norman to manufacture shots from his 53-year-old memory Saturday during the British Open, which he called among the toughest tests he has ever faced in golf.

It only got harder after he finished another chapter in this incredible script at Royal Birkdale.

Norman played the perfect pitch shot over a pot bunker to within a foot of the cup for par, giving him a 2-over 72 and a two-shot lead over defending champion Padraig Harrington and K.J. Choi.

With so much baggage behind him in the majors, Norman did all he could not to look too far ahead. He is 18 holes from becoming golf's oldest major champion, but Norman wouldn't bite when asked what it would feel like to win.

“Ask me that question (Sunday) night if that happens, OK?” he said.

Norman is 1-6 when he has at least a share of the 54-hole lead in the majors, his victory coming at Turnberry in Scotland in 1986. His career is defined as much by the majors he lost as the two British Open titles he won. How would be reply to those who said he couldn't possible win?

“I didn't hear any of that,” Norman said.

All he would acknowledge was that he was at 2-over 212, in the lead at a major with an opportunity no one saw coming.

“I've got to go out there and play my game,” Norman said. “I'll answer a lot of different questions (Sunday) night if I have to.”

The rest of the details are hard to believe.

“It is different, no question,” Norman said. “The players are probably saying, ‘My God, what's he doing up there?'”

He will be in the last group today with Harrington, who doesn't see Norman as anything but a two-time British Open champion.

“When he's interested, Greg Norman can really play,” said Harrington, who overcame his wind-blown mistakes with four birdies for a 72. “He's well capable of putting it together, as he's shown in the first three rounds, and I don't think anybody should expect anything but good play from him” today.

Norman and Harrington were the only players among the final 11 groups to break 75.

No one broke par. Nine players failed to break 80, including David Duval, who was three shots behind until a triple-bogey on the opening hole. His 83 matched his worst score in a British Open.

Former U.S. Open champion Jim Furyk was tied for the lead until he took two double-bogeys and shot 43 on the back nine on his way to a 77. Choi lost the lead for good with a three-putt bogey on the 15th and wound up with a 75.

The wind raged before dawn and was relentless, measuring 30mph when the first player teed off at breakfast and holding steady at close to 40mph during the heart of the third round – making it hard to appreciate what Norman was doing.

Norman is believed to be the oldest player to lead after 54 holes in a major. Julius Boros was 53years, 3months when he was tied for the lead in the 1973 U.S. Open, won by Johnny Miller at Oakmont (Pa.). Boros is the oldest major champion, 48 when he captured the 1968 PGA Championship in San Antonio.

Maybe it was just a coincidence, but Jack Nicklaus was in town Friday. He was 46 and seemingly out to pasture when he shot 30 on the back nine at Augusta National in 1986 to win the Masters for a sixth time. Norman was a runner-up that year, naturally.

Nicklaus saw a few similarities with Norman's bid at the British Open.

“He'll remember how to play when and if he gets in a position to win a golf tournament,” Nicklaus said.

That's just what Norman was doing Saturday. After two bogeys through three holes, leaving him three shots behind, he was 120 yards from the green at No.5 when he asked for a 5-iron before asking for the yardage.

“The yardage was mentioned to me, but I didn't even pay attention,” Norman said. “I already saw the shot. I knew that was the shot I had to play to get the ball close to the hole. And I did that probably three or four, maybe five times today.”

He also showed some flair, each hole giving him confidence, peeling away time.

Norman hit driver over the corner of some mounding on the eighth hole, leaving him a short pitch to the green where he made a 10-foot birdie putt to get back in the game.

Wie errs, forcing early exit while 2nd

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 22:58 EDT

After finishing in second place Friday and Saturday at the State Farm Classic, Michelle Wie was one good round from finally living up to her potential.

Then, minutes after tapping in her last putt of the third round, Wie was explaining why she'd been disqualified.

Wie, 18, broke a basic rule: She failed to sign her card before leaving the scoring area.

“I don't know why or how it happened,” she said.

That left Yani Tseng leading the tournament at 18 under, followed by Katie Futcher at 16 under and Hee-Won Han and Ji Young Oh another shot back.

Sue Witters, the LPGA's director of tournament competitions, disqualified Wie.

“She was like a little kid after you tell them there's no Santa Claus,” Witters said.

With that, Wie was gone from a tournament where the $255,000 winner's purse or the $155,252 second prize would have practically guaranteed the full-time Stanford student a place on the tour next year.

Wie told reporters that after she finished Friday, she left the tent where players sign scorecards. She was chased down by volunteers from the tent, who pointed out she hadn't signed.

Wie returned to the tent and signed the card, and “I thought it would be OK,” she said.

But Wie, according to Witters, had walked outside the roped-off area around the tent. At that point, the mistake was final, Witters said.

Elsewhere

PGA: Nick Flanagan fired a 69, using a tap-in birdie on the 557-yard, par-5 18th to tie and Gavin Coles after three rounds of the U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee. Coles shot 68.

CHAMPIONS: R.W. Eaks shot an 9-under 63 for a three-stroke lead over Gene Jones and Loren Roberts after two rounds of the 3M Championship in Blaine, Minn. Eaks has a 128, the best two-round score on tour this year.

U.S. AMATEUR PUBLIC LINKS: Jack Newman, a rising junior at Michigan State, beat John Chin 5 and 3 in the 36-hole final in Aurora, Colo., to earn the traditional invitation into the field for next year's Masters.

WOMEN'S NORTH & SOUTH AMATEUR: Australian Kristie Smith, 19, will seek her first U.S. amateur title against Chelsea Curtis today in Pinehurst.

SOUTHERN AMATEUR: Clemson junior Kyle Stanley overcame an eight-shot deficit during the final two rounds in Orlando, Fla., then birdied the first playoff hole to outlast Mike Van Sickle and win his second title.

OBSERVER NEWS SERVICES

49er Nagy out in quarters

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 22:43 EDT

It took 24 holes, but Charlotte 49ers junior Corey Nagy was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the 83rd U.S. Amateur Public Links at Murphy Creek Golf Club on Friday.

Nagy, a Vance High graduate, was defeated by Jack Newman of Des Moines, Iowa, in the round of eight. Newman was up by three holes through 11, but Nagy rebounded by playing the final seven holes in two-under par.

Nagy was down one heading to the 18th, but posted a par 4 while Newman bogeyed to force extra play.

The duo matched birdies on the 20th and 21st holes before Newman's birdie on hole 24 clinched the victory. Nagy reached the semifinals, last year. This year, he was tied for fourth in qualifying in the 155-player field.

ELSEWHERE

PGA: First-round leader Richard Johnson shot 3-under par 67 and Nick Flanagan had a 7-under 63 to share the second-round lead at 10 under at the U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee.

Kent Jones and Gavin Coles were tied for third a shot back of the leaders. Jones shot 65 and Coles, of Australia, had the low round of the tournament at 62, one shy of the course record.

LPGA: Christina Kim's second-round 68 at the State Farm Classic in Springfield, Ill., looked ordinary compared to her opening 63, but it included a birdie putt on her last hole that gave her a one-stroke lead over the charging Michelle Wie and three others.

Kim was the first-day leader, but said Friday was, by comparison, a fight.

She bogeyed the par-5 sixth hole and saved par on her opening hole only after finding the green with her second shot from behind a line of trees well off the fairway.

CHAMPIONS: Dana Quigley shot a tournament-record 10-under 62 and leads after the first round of the Champions Tour's 3M Championship in Blaine, Minn.

Gene Jones shot a season-best 64, and is two shots back. Jeff Sluman birdied four of his last five holes to join R.W. Eaks at 7 under.

Round 2: 2 big surprises at Royal Birkdale

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 10:47 EDT

Greg Norman turned back the clock. So did David Duval. And K.J. Choi found himself in a familiar position – playing in the final group of the British Open heading to the weekend.

Three weeks after marrying tennis great Chris Evert, Norman kept up the honeymoon at Royal Birkdale with his second straight par 70 on Friday, leaving him one stroke off Choi's lead.

Norman won the Open twice in his prime, but never thought it was still there for the taking at age 53.

“My expectations were almost nil coming in,” he said bluntly. “I hadn't played a lot of golf.”

Talk about low expectations. There's no way Duval could have expected much, not after missing the cut 10 of 11 times on the PGA Tour this year.

Suddenly, he's playing like the guy who won the 2001 British Open and seemed ready to challenge Tiger Woods as the world's best player. After that, injuries and erratic play sent his career into steep decline.

With two holes left, Duval was at 1 under for the day and just three strokes behind Choi.

The South Korean finished with back-to-back birdies for a 69, rolling in a 20-footer at No.18 to push his two-round total to 1-under 139. He was the only player in the field under par.

“I'm very surprised,” he said.

He shouldn't be. A year ago, Choi was just two strokes off the lead at the 36-hole mark, playing in the final group Saturday with Sergio Garcia. He couldn't keep it going, fading to a tie for eighth.

With two days to go, Norman still considers himself the longest of long shots, and he's got players half his age – such as 26-year-old Camilo Villegas, who shot the best round yet with a brilliant 5-under 65 Friday – poised to challenge.

Still, it was amazing to see Norman's name atop the leader board at a tournament he won in 1986 at Turnberry and then again at Royal St. George's seven years later – especially since he's trying to be the oldest player by far to win a major.

Julius Boros was 48 when he captured the PGA Championship in 1968.

“You feel like you're stepping back in time,” Norman said, his bride watching from the back of the room after following him around the links course. “My expectations are still realistically low. … I haven't been there for a long time.”

Norman's focus has certainly been elsewhere in recent years as he cut back on his golf, turned to his myriad business interests and endured a messy, costly divorce. Recently, he was more concerned about planning his wedding to Evert than prepping for the Open, one of the rare golf events on his schedule.

The two got married in the Bahamas less than three weeks ago, then kept the honeymoon going once they headed across the Atlantic.

“The least of my worries was getting out there and practicing,” Norman conceded. “My mind has really been elsewhere.”

With no offense to Norman's steady play, no one was hotter Friday than Villegas, who started his round with two bogeys but closed with five straight birdies – rolling in putts of 16, 6, 16, 3 and 20 feet.

“I obviously played unbelievable,” the Colombian said.

Villegas, dubbed “Spider-Man” for his unique, crouching style of reading putts and one of golf's most noted fashion plates, has come across as more flash than substance. He's never won on the PGA Tour, but put himself right in contention at a tournament known for unlikely champions, including Ben Curtis and Todd Hamilton.

Villegas had eight birdies. He capped his amazing run at the end by striking the flagstick with his approach at No. 18, then sinking the putt after the ball ricocheted onto the fringe.

Golf's oldest major began in miserable weather, but conditions improved dramatically Friday. Despite a grim forecast, the rain largely held off and the breeze off the Irish Sea remained relatively calm by Birkdale standards.

Defending champion Padraig Harrington, who was wondering on the eve of the tournament if he'd be able to play with an ailing wrist, was right in contention again after an eagle-birdie finish left him with a 68.

He was part of a logjam at 142, joining Rocco Mediate (73), Graeme McDowell (73), Jim Furyk (71), Robert Allenby (73) and Alexander Noren (70).

At 29 over par, Daly fails to make the cut

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 09:05 EDT

John Daly is out of excuses and the British Open after an 89 on Friday left him at 29 over par for the tournament and a staggering 20 strokes on the wrong side of the cut line.

Daly began the week talking about injuries and blasting former coach Butch Harmon, who ended their brief relationship in March after saying Daly was drinking too much and more interested in partying than practicing. Daly said those remarks cost him endorsements and caused him considerable pain.

His round Friday included a quintuple-bogey 9 and three doubles. He missed an 18-inch putt at the 18th and was cheered by fans who howled when the “Wild Thing” was in his prime and pounding tee shots through the wind and into the distance. He walked off the green, stopped to sign an autograph – left-handed, while cradling a cigarette in his right hand – then signed his card and climbed into the back of a waiting car. He declined comment.

Watson will stick around in broadcast booth

Four straight bogeys late in his round kept Tom Watson from making the cut. He followed his 74 in miserable weather with a 76 in slightly better conditions, missing a weekend tee time by one shot.

Next for Watson is the Senior British Open at Royal Troon, one of five courses where he won the British Open.

But he won't be leaving Royal Birkdale just yet.

Watson reluctantly agreed to try broadcasting this weekend and will join ABC Sports as a commentator.

“They asked me to do it, and I said, ‘I don't want to do that.' But on the other hand, the British Open is not a bad place for you to do it,” Watson said. “You have a chance to play in it, see the golf course, and tell the viewers what you think of a particular shot. I said, ‘You know what? I probably can do that. Let me give it a try.' So that's what I'm going to do the next couple days.”

Nicklaus wants golf in Olympics

Golf has another voice in its campaign to be part of the Olympics – Jack Nicklaus.

“I've offered to help where I can, if I can,” Nicklaus said during a brief stop at Royal Birkdale. “I'm doing golf courses around the world. If golf became an Olympic sport, it would get government financing. It would be a big thing in the world of golf to get financing in a lot of places where golf is not played.”

Nicklaus wasn't even aware that golf executives had put together a plan and met with IOC officials in May. He said he was in his office Monday chatting about golf and the Olympics when an assistant called the PGA Tour to inquire about the chances. That's when they learned of an announcement Tuesday at the British Open, in which Ty Votaw was chosen to lead the effort.

Van de Velde finally returns to weekend

For the first time since St. Andrews eight years ago, Jean Van de Velde will be playing on the weekend at the British Open. The Frenchman famous for his comical collapse at Carnoustie in 1999 was actually on the leader board Friday, just two shots out, until struggling on the back nine.

He wound up with a 71 and at 4-over 144 was five shots out of the lead.

“I had it going but made a couple of mistakes and paid the price for those,” Van de Velde said of his double-bogey on the 11th and a triple-bogey on the 16th. “But I'm very happy. If it wasn't for a couple of blemishes, I could have been under par. It's ‘should haves' and ‘would haves,' I guess.”

No one knows that better than Van de Velde, who “should” have won the '99 Open if he “would” have laid up short of Barry Burn on the 18th hole. Then he “could” have avoided a triple-bogey on the final hole and perhaps not lost in a playoff.

Another big save from Mediate

Rocco Mediate keeps delivering big moments in the majors, the latest keeping him in the hunt Friday. After chopping up the par-5 17th for a bogey, his approach to the 18th stopped inches away for a tap-in birdie and a 73.

Mediate was alone in the lead until his 3-wood went well to the right on the tough 11th hole. His chip went sideways, and he wound up with a double-bogey. Then came another bogey on the 14th, the bogey on the 17th, and his big finish.

“I made two bad swings today, and I got what I deserved on those holes,” he said of the 11th and 17th. “Other than that, I didn't make as many putts today, obviously. I hit the ball a million times better, shot four shots higher. Go figure. That's how it works in this game.”

Does he have a better chance trying to win at Birkdale than at Torrey Pines?

“It's still a major,” Mediate said. “It's still going to be the most exciting thing ever if you're in the hunt. The difference is, you don't have to look him ( Tiger Woods) in the eye. I'd rather him be here than not, to tell you the truth.”

Associated Press