Game cold, temper hot for Woods - Boston Herald

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Game cold, temper hot for Woods - Boston Herald Apr 8th 2012, 05:12 AUGUSTA, Ga. — Tiger Woods practiced until after dark Friday night, not leaving the driving range until 8:20 p.m. Yesterday he played like he was still in the dark. On moving day, as tour professionals call the Saturday of a big tournament, Woods remained stationary, spinning his wheels and occasionally his 3-wood but getting nowhere. Nowhere closer to the leaders. Nowhere closer to a green jacket. Nowhere closer to Jack Nicklaus, who pulls further and further away from the 36-year-old Woods with each major championship that slips away as the 76th Masters did yesterday. On a cool, clear, sun-dappled afternoon that was perfect for golf, Woods needed an ax and some beach toys in his bag to get around Augusta National, because after a fast start that brought out the Tiger Roar things quickly devolved into another Tiger bore. Woods bogeyed Nos. 6 and 9 to give back his early advances and make the turn at the same 3-over for the tournament that he'd been when his day began. After that the highlight for Woods would be another lowlight when he slammed down his 3-wood after a poor tee shot on No. 13 that sent his ball into his namesake — the woods — and a divot shot up that was so big it looked like someone had given a squirrel a hot foot. The crowd did not roar. It sighed. This was the second straight day Woods' on-course behavior made more news than his off-course play. Augusta National is a place so staid that running — even to the bathroom — is banned and sternly reprimanded if seen, so club throwing is completely out of the question. When Woods kicked a 9-iron about 15 yards behind him after a bad shot on Friday, three-time Masters champion Nick Faldo, who now works as an analyst for CBS, remarked, "I think we can officially say Tiger has lost his game . . . and his mind." Woods apologized at the end of his round yesterday for kicking the club, an action that may lead to a PGA sanction. "Certainly I'm frustrated at times and I apologize if I offended anybody by that," Woods said. "I certainly heard that people didn't like me kicking the club but I didn't like it either. I hit it right in the bunker and it didn't feel good on my toe either." After an even-par 72 left him 12 shots behind leader Peter Hanson, Woods said, "I was so close to putting it together today. I unfortunately did not play par-5 (holes) very well today. I'm telling you it was so close to being a really good round of golf. "It's so frustrating because I'm so close to doing it. I'm so close to turning it around. I would just hit a couple of good shots in a row and compound the problem with a bad shot in the wrong spot." For the aging athlete isn't that always the problem? You can still do it at any moment. You just can't do it every moment anymore. How'd this happen? You couldn't blame Hanson if the air is a little thin where he's sitting this morning. Hanson holds a 1-shot lead over three-time Masters champion Phil Mickelson at 9-under going into today's final round. The closest the Swedish golfer has ever been to the lead going into the final day of a major prior to this is 7 shots back. Hanson's lead has been the product of 18 birdies, more than anyone else in the tournament. That's an average of six per round. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers. Five Filters recommends: Donate to Wikileaks.

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