In-form Tiger yet to break free

Only six days to go to the Ryder Cup now – and Tiger Woods’ golf, if not his excitement about the match, is coming nicely to the boil.

Sat, 21 Sep, 2002 - 10:33

Only six days to go to the Ryder Cup now – and Tiger Woods’ golf, if not his excitement about the match, is coming nicely to the boil.

And so is the American Express world championship at Mount Juliet in Co Kilkenny.

After two course record rounds of 65 you might have expected the world No 1 to be clear of the field and in sight of his sixth world crown and another million-dollar pay-day.

But even at 14 under par, a pace which will break the European tour record total if he keeps it up for two more days, Woods is being chased hard.

Jerry Kelly, who after a decade of trying to win on the US Tour has finally broken through this season, is two behind and two more Americans – Woods’ Ryder Cup team-mate David Toms and Steve Lowery – are three back.

It is bad news for them that Woods, still to have a bogey, reckons he can play better than he has on the first two days.

And he reckons the Co Kilkenny course is there for the taking if he does go into overdrive.

But that is not the way he would choose for a €5.5m event featuring 49 of the world’s top 50 players.

“All in all I’m very pleased, but I’ve always thought the bigger the tournament the more difficult they should make the course,” he said.

“The reason why everybody (with Darren Clarke seven over par overnight he should have said ’nearly everybody’) is scoring low is that the greens are perfect. We won’t get to putt on greens this good very often.

“You can feel confident from 20 to 30 feet and from 10 feet or less you’ve just got to get it on line.

“Even if we had windy conditions the guys are going to shoot good numbers. The fairways are amply wide and the rough is spotty. The course is not set up that hard, but the greens are the key.”

Leading the European attempt to catch him is the one who until last Sunday was not even in the tournament – Worthing’s Gary Evans at nine under, joint sixth and five behind Woods.

A sixth place finish in the German Masters elevated Evans into Europe’s 20 and therefore opened the door to join the game’s elite. As the only player in the 66-strong field not to have won a title in his career, he is lapping up the opportunity.

“I still can’t believe I am here,” said the 33-year-old, who made a name for himself with a dramatic last-day charge into the lead at the Open in July.

“I don’t suppose the American players here have the first idea who I am, but I have the talent to do this and now it’s a question of doing something with it.

“It’s important now I’m here to play well. For a long time in my career I never thought this was going to happen, especially when I was told my wrist injury might never get better.”

Needing second place on his own to replace Nick Faldo as Justin Rose’s partner for the World Cup in Mexico in December – another money-spinning event – Evans has the confidence of knowing he is ahead of all but two of the 17 Ryder Cup players next week taking part.

Niclas Fasth is best of the seven members of Sam Torrance’s side here on seven under. Sergio Garcia is one further back, Padraig Harrington five under, Bernhard Langer and Thomas Bjorn four under, Colin Montgomerie only two under - and Clarke last of the 66 on seven over.

With no halfway cut, though, the Ulsterman has two more competitive rounds to try to put things right before the clash at The Belfry.

He is totally mystified by his play so far – and reckoned the time he has spent on the driving range might have been better served in the bar.

While his form is a concern for Torrance, David Duval’s 65 yesterday was a real tonic for him and the American camp.

Duval was really struggling earlier this summer and is still only 93rd on the US money list. To have him on song again makes Curtis Strange’s team look strong favourites.

Tee-off times in the third round of the World Golf Championships-American Express championship at Mount Juliet, County Kilkenny, Ireland, on Saturday (Gbr and Ire unless stated):

0830 Darren Clarke, Kenichi Kuboya (Jap)

0840 Craig Perks (Nzl), Peter O’Malley (Aus)

0850 Brad Faxon (USA), Thongchai Jaidee (Thai)

0900 Paul Azinger (USA), Scott Laycock (Aus)

0910 John Cook (USA), John Rollins (USA)

0920 Tom Lehman (USA), Carl Pettersson (Swe)

0930 Len Mattiace (USA), Anders Hansen (Den)

0940 Justin Rose, Tim Clark (Rsa)

0950 Soren Hansen (Den), Phil Mickelson (USA)

1000 Trevor Immelman (Rsa), Colin Montgomerie 1010 Robert Allenby (Aus), Mark Calcavecchia (USA)

1020 Eduardo Romero (Arg), Paul Lawrie 1030 Chris Riley (USA), Jose Maria Olazabal (Spa)

1040 Scott Verplank (USA), Jose Coceres (Arg)