The Hindu : Sport : Woods hangs on to his lead

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jul 18, 2005

Sport

Sport

Woods hangs on to his lead

ST. ANDREWS (Scotland): Tiger Woods was locked in a titanic battle with Scotland's Colin Montgomerie as he reached the turn in the final round of the Open championship here on Sunday.

The 29-year-old world number one walked off the ninth green standing two-under for the day, 14-under for the championship and two shots clear of the Scot who refused to go away.

Montgomerie had begun the day three back but moved up when he birdied the third to send the Scottish fans roaring.

Two more birdies saw Montgomerie go out in three-under 33 but Woods knew exactly what he had to do as he collected two birdies of his own. If his putter had been hotter it could have been four, missing two chances from the six-foot range.

Jose-Maria Olazabal, playing with Woods, could only manage a one-under 35. The Spaniard started the round only two back and suddenly it was three.

Grinding halt

Brad Faxon's charge came to a grinding halt at the first when he dumped his approach into the burn guarding the front of the green.

The 43-year-old ran up a double bogey six to slip back to six-under and left to rue what might have been.

He pulled one back on the par four ninth but with Woods refusing to give anything away Faxon's Open dreams had been dashed.

Vijay Singh appeared poised to make a charge when he birdied the first but then his driving went awry, his putter began to fail and the world number two began the long march home six shots back.

Earlier, Montgomerie and Olazabal moved within a stroke early in the day, but Woods restored the margin he had at the beginning with a two-putt birdie on the par-5 fifth.

Montgomerie sent the huge gallery into a frenzy with a 20-foot birdie at No. 3, then tapped in for another two holes later.

Olazabal, a two-time Masters champion playing in the final group with Woods, was the closest challenger coming to the final round, with Montgomerie and Retief Goosen three strokes back.

While Olazabal moved up with a 35-foot birdie at the fourth, Goosen was in the midst of another final-round collapse in a Major.

The South African took a three-shot lead to the final round of the U.S. Open, only to shoot 81. This time, he bogeyed the first two holes and took another bogey at the fifth, tumbling off the leaderboard.

Woods managed a third-round 71, despite hitting two balls into gorse bushes at the Old Course, and was 12-under 204 through 54 holes.

Woods already won the first major of the year, the Masters in April, and was runner-up to Michael Campbell at Pinehurst three weeks ago.

The world's No. 1 player won his lone British title in 2000 at St. Andrews, romping to an eight-stroke victory with a 19-under score. Nick Faldo sent the fans into a frenzy by holing an eagle putt from off the green at the 18th, finishing with a 69. — Agencies

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