Tiger Has to Earn Stripes

LOUISVILLE, Ky. —  They have emerged from their hovels and are dancing in the streets, the ragamuffins and urchins who have collared the Tiger.

One of their own, Scott Dunlap, stared him down for 18 holes in the PGA Championship’s third round Saturday.

Another one, Bob May, gets a chance to climb on him in the final round today.

They have Tiger Woods surrounded, this collection of dirty knees with names like Chalmers and Bjorn and Appleby, and what a feast it will be.

Said Stuart Appleby: “I think he’s close enough to be netted.”

Said Thomas Bjorn: “The pressure is on him now. He’s not running away with it. Everyone feels like they can catch him.”

Silly boys.

Don’t they know it’s over?

Don’t they know the first rule of playing in an important tournament against a hot Tiger Woods?

You get one chance.

On Saturday afternoon, Woods gave them their chance.

Their boy Dunlap couldn’t make him pay.

They can dance and hope and dream all they want. It’s a nice story. It’s just not believable.

Today Woods wins again. Because on Saturday, he was allowed to crawl safely from the one place he could have lost.

During a four-hole stretch on the back nine at Valhalla, with the field charging and thousands gasping and a certain swoosh-covered idol throwing his clubs, Woods went double bogey-par-par-bogey.

At the 15th hole, playing partner Dunlap needed to make only a 12-foot putt to take the lead.

Helicopters whirred. Cameras clicked. Fans murmured. Silence was requested.

Dunlap left the putt short.

He stuck his face in his hands.

He essentially left it there while missing putts on the next two holes.

By the time the round ended, Woods was back in the lead, which is where he will undoubtedly stay today in becoming the only player other than Ben Hogan (1953) to win three Grand Slam tournaments in one year.

No matter that four players are within three strokes of him.

Those players have combined for one career PGA Tour win.

As Dunlap showed Saturday, those players cannot possibly be prepared for what awaits them.

Dunlap eventually shot the round of his life, a two-under 70 under trying conditions.

And he still couldn’t catch Tiger.

Dunlap outdrove him, outthought him, out-executed him.

And he still didn’t catch him.

“To shoot 70, as poorly as I struck the golf ball, I thought that was pretty good,” Woods said, later adding, “I hit some bad shots today.”

He gave the others their chance.

He is not expected to be so kind today.

What his immediate challengers will be facing is similar to what visiting teams have historically faced at Green Bay’s Lambeau Field.

Woods will be used to the conditions. They won’t.

The players in front of Woods will be trailed by cascades of screams, causing them to turn their heads toward a leader board or an adjacent green.

The player with him--Lynwood native May--will take every shot under the scrutiny of more people than have probably watched him in his entire career.

Woods will not notice. His opponents will.

“He might have had it enough that he doesn’t hear it anymore, but it was pretty new to me,” Dunlap said of Saturday’s hollering. “If I couldn’t hear it, it was because I was deaf from walking through it on to the 12th tee. It was deafening. It was that loud.”

Woods will also be used to the pressure. They won’t.

The last time any of them have been among the leaders in the final round of a close major tournament is, like, never.

The last time for Woods was, well, this tournament last year.

Remember how he nearly blew a five-stroke lead to Sergio Garcia?

What Woods remembers most is how it didn’t bother him.

“I have the lead and he has got to come get me,” Woods remembered thinking of Garcia then. “I felt like all the pressure was on him.”

He will feel the same way today about May, Dunlap, J.P Hayes and Greg Chalmers.

And despite what they say, they will feel it, too.

Dunlap loudly showed this Saturday. The missed putts. A wild sand shot that would still be rolling if it hadn’t clanked against the flag stick.

“I was a little tentative with my putter, “ Dunlap acknowledged. “Given the circumstances, that might be a little understandable.”

Once, when Tiger missed a 15-foot putt on the 17th green, he actually laughed, then choked up on the shaft like a child and playfully putted it in.

Dunlap didn’t laugh once.

Twice on the 18th tee, he was too busy asking tournament officials for help in keeping the crowd quiet. The first time was after a naturally confused sort shouted, “Hey, J.P!”

Then there was the incident at the 11th green, when a fan screamed, “Hey, Tiger! Putt it left-handed and give him a chance.”

The challengers, despite being crowd favorites today, will be playing on Tiger’s turf. And playing by Tiger’s rules.

It will be a long way from the Ozarks Open.

Dunlap and May--trailing Woods by one stroke each--have each finished second in that Nike Tour tournament.

If they are extremely lucky, one of them will finish second today.

And the other will finish third.

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Bill Plaschke can be reached at his e-mail address: [email protected].