Lucky 13

Sunday at the PGA was all set up to be a prolonged victory lap for Tiger. Stephen (No) Ames just never finishes. He's always close, no matter where he is on the course he'll get right up to a birdie and then halt. I didn't have much faith in that guy. Woody Austin is a guy I'd never heard of but he sure seemed like a wacko, the kind of guy you get behind just because you feel a little sorry for him. I was skeptical as to whether he would hang, though I suspected he would've been better off paired with Tiger, he might've drawn some real inspiration in the shadow of pure discipline. These were the only challengers it seemed and both seemed like long shots at best. Tiger doesn't get beat in majors and after the clinic he put on Friday, it felt like he might well be on a record-setting pace.

Early on it certainly appeared that Tiger would ride his 3 stroke lead to an easy-going station-to-station kind of day, letting his opponents absorb all the pressure. Then out of the blue, some excitement developed! Ernie Els--where the hell did he come from?--kicked out the jams knocking down birdie putts all over the place. Els looked better than I've seen him in eons, its been a while since he's been a factor on Sunday. Woody Austin decided to bring some noise of his own, chipping in left and right. Meanwhile, Tiger failed to pull away. Els and Austin did their best work in the middle holes (8-12) and I figured Tiger would respond and knock down a bird or two but he didn't. Tiger was fairly lackluster through the middle, playing them like the horse latitudes when everyone else was gambling and winning.

But in the end, Els bogeyed on 14 and Austin, fine as he played, just couldn't birdie every hole. And Tiger, indeed, stayed to his game plan and maintained. He rarely let his driver really rip, playing it fairly respectful rather than shining out. The drama was a bit illusory but there was more than was foreshadowed and that made for a pleasant surprise.