| Akron,
Ohio, 28th
August 1998 - Tiger Woods had four birdies, two bogeys and two spectacular
pars in a 2-under-par 68 that left him tied with David Duval and Craig Parry through
today's second round of the NEC World Series of Golf. "I've
hit the ball better and putted better,'' Woods said after finishing at 5-under
135. "But I'm scrambling really good right now, thinking around the golf
course. The last two rounds I didn't make any mental errors. Physical errors,
yes, but my thought process was good.'' Exhibit
A was No. 9, where he drove into heavy trees and rough off the left side of the
fairway. After
getting a free drop from sprinkler control boxes, he was forced to hit a 60-degree
sand wedge through a gap in the trees half the size of a coffee table. He did,
rolling the ball on the front of the green and then two-putting for par. "That
was one of the shots I'm very proud of, because the gap wasn't very big,'' he
said. At the
16th -- Firestone Country Club's famed 625-yard signature hole known as "The
Monster'' -- Woods hit a 350-yard drive, then pulled out a 3-wood while the gallery
massed along the ropes urged him to go for the green in two. He flew the ball
285 yards, clearing a greenside trap and landing in heavy rough off the back left
corner of the green. From there he chipped 15 feet past and two-putted for another
par. "To
be honest with you, I really wasn't happy,'' Woods said. "The fans were happy,
but they were the only ones.'' At
one time or another five players had at least a share of the lead today. Duval
had the lead to himself as he teed off on the final hole, thanks to a bogey by
Woods who was unable to get up and down out of a bunker at the 14th. But
then Woods chipped in for a birdie at 15 at almost the same time Parry was rolling
in a birdie putt at 14 and there was a threesome atop the leaderboard again. Duval's
66 matched Mark O'Meara for low round of the day, but it didn't impress Duval.
"If there
was ever a boring 4-under, that was it,'' Duval said after a four-birdie, no-bogey
day. Duval wasn't
about to stake any claim to the $405,000 first-place check just because he had
a share of the lead at the mid-point. "It's
certainly a lot better to be at 5-under right now than it would be to be a couple
over par, but it's hard to say even that 5-under is better than 2- or 3-under
right now,'' he said. "Two shots is nothing.'' Parry
-- who stands just 5-foot-6 but is nicknamed "Popeye'' because of his muscular
forearms -- has played PGA Tour events since 1992 but has yet to win on U.S. soil.
His 5-iron approach
hit a woman standing just right of the green at the par-3 5th. Parry checked on
her before she received medical treatment -- "She just didn't look very well''
-- then chipped to 6 feet and hit the par putt. "Just
proves golfers don't have consciences,'' he joked. Coming
into the day a shot back of Mickelson, he was in the lead by himself after rolling
in an 18-footer for birdie at No. 15. But
at the 17th, he found trouble right of the green with his 6-iron second shot and
was unable to get up and down to save par, falling back into the tie at the top.
He goes into
the weekend hopeful he can finally break through in the states. "It
obviously means a lot to me because I've won everywhere else,'' he said. "I've
won in Canada, Europe, Australia, Japan -- but never here. So it's really the
missing piece of the puzzle for my career.'' First-round
leader Phil Mickelson, hooking his drives into trouble four times, is two shots
back at 3-under 137 after a 71. The
pack at 1-under 139 includes leading money-winner and PGA champion Vijay Singh,
British Open and Masters winner O'Meara, Justin Leonard, Scott Hoch and Loren
Roberts. Before
play started, U.S. Open champion Lee Janzen was disqualified
for signing an incorrect scorecard after taking too long to hit his second putt
on the 17th hole in the opening round. Janzen waited for more than 20 seconds
-- twice the time permitted by Rule 16-2 of the Rules of Golf -- with the ball
falling into the cup just as he walked up to tap it in. After finishing a 78 that
left him 43rd in the 44-player field, he marked his card for a birdie 3 instead
of taking a self-imposed penalty shot for a par. "Strange
things happen on the course sometimes and this was one of them,'' Janzen said
before leaving the course. Janzen
still got to collect the $18,475 in unofficial earnings for finishing last.
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