DORAL, Fla. — Tiger Woods’ unbeaten streak lives another day. Barring a big comeback, it’ll live for only one more day.
Geoff Ogilvy got to 17 under through nine holes and held a two-shot lead over Jim Furyk and Vijay Singh at the soggy CA Championship, which won’t finish until today because of a three-hour weather delay during the final round.
Furyk was 15 under through 10, while Singh played nine holes. Retief Goosen and Graeme Storm were three shots back and Steve Stricker made a huge charge, shooting a final-round 63 to finish at 13 under, four shots back of Ogilvy and tied with Adam Scott.
Play was scheduled to resume 5:30 a.m. today (PDT), when most of the intrigue will be pointed toward Woods — who was five back with seven holes remaining.
“In his own mind, he probably still thinks he has a chance and I’m sure we’ve seen him to do crazy things before,” Ogilvy said. “But Jim and Vijay have won a fair few tournaments and Adam’s won a fair few tournaments. … He doesn’t have to only catch me.”
World Golf Championship events are some of Woods’ favorites, given his 15 wins in 26 previous WGCs entering this week. But somehow, at Doral, he’s looked mortal. He hasn’t lost to anyone in six months, yet when play was halted, he was tied for ninth.
Ogilvy’s last win was the 2006 U.S. Open. Woods missed the cut that summer at Winged Foot and has been on an absolute tear ever since, winning 16 of his last 26 official PGA Tour events and carrying winning streaks of seven straight appearances worldwide and five tournaments on tour into at Doral, where he’s won each of the past three years.
Unless he pulls off a stirring comeback, all those streaks will end, meaning he’ll be a winner in only nine of his past 11 events worldwide heading into the Masters.
For anyone else, that’s a superhuman clip. For Woods, it’s become practically expected.
Ogilvy’s bogey-free streak for the week ended after 60 holes, when he left a 35-foot par putt short on the seventh hole. He was forced to scramble at times and said he was exhausted after the long day, but he’s still in the best position entering Monday.
“It’s a good leaderboard,” Ogilvy said. “I guess the idea is to have everyone have a chance with nine holes to play or 18 holes to play.”
If Woods has a chance, it’s a slim one, because up-and-down trends plagued him all weekend.
Woods’ chances took a serious hit in the third round, when every other contender seemed to go on birdie sprees while he remained stuck in the Doral mud. Singh and Storm shot 63s, Goosen and Furyk had 64s, while Woods could only manage a third-round 72.
He gave the omnipresent throng of fans who followed him in the gallery hope when he opened the final round with two birdies. But he followed those with consecutive bogeys, one before the weather delay, one after at the long par-3 fourth hole. At that point, he trailed Ogilvy by six, and was a decidedly un-Tigerlike even par over his past 25 holes.
It sure didn’t look like much of a tuneup for Augusta National.
Furyk opened his final round with a birdie, but then had two straight bogeys. He rallied nicely, though, putting together four consecutive birdies later on the front side, giving him 13 birdies in a 26-hole stretch.
PUERTO RICO OPEN: Greg Kraft won the inaugural Puerto Rico Open In Rio Grande for his first official PGA Tour victory, closing with a 2-under 70 for a one-stroke victory over Bo Van Pelt and Jerry Kelly.
Kraft, who the unofficial Deposit Guaranty Classic in Mississippi 15 years ago, had a 14-under 274 total on the Trump International Golf Club course. Kelly, at No. 63 the highest-ranked player in the field, shot a 70, and Van Pelt had a 72.
MADEIRA ISLANDS OPEN: Scotland’s Alastair Forsyth overcame a five-stroke deficit in regulation, then beat South Africa’s Hennie Otto with birdie on the first hole of a playoff in the Madeira Islands Open in Santo Da Serra, Maedeira Islands.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
