PGA Title is Tiger's to Lose Now: With 3-Shot Lead, 13th Career Major All but Assured

Aug 12, 05:05 AM

Current Headlines: By Steve Campbell, Houston Chronicle

Aug. 12--TULSA, OKLA. -- The sun will rise from the east. Tiger Woods will defy the gravity of his situation, the heat, the weight of expectation. All the mortals in his wake will eventually stumble and fall, and the sun will rise again, the circle of life will keep spinning around and around and around.

Isn't that the natural order of things at golf's major championships?

Woods further entrenched himself in the lead of the 89th PGA Championship on Saturday. With a methodical 1-under-par 69 at Southern Hills Country Club, Woods expanded his lead from two strokes to three. He is 7 under par (203) entering the final round, leaving Stephen Ames (69-206), Woody Austin (69-207), John Senden (69-208) and Ernie Els (69-209) as the only players within six strokes of the lead.

When Woods is feeling frisky enough to take off ahead of the pack at a major championship, the outcome tends to be as inevitable as when the bottom of a shoe takes on a cockroach. Woods is leading after 54 holes at a major championship for the 13th time of his career. The next time Woods fails to turn one of those 54-hole leads into a major victory will be the first.

"If I were not a golfer, a fan on the couch, I'd be putting my house on him," said Els, the world's No. 4 player and a three-time major champion.

Making it look easy Leave it to Woods to make winning a major championship look -- even in 100-degree temperatures -- like a no-sweat proposition. One day after having tied a major-championship record by shooting 63, Woods plotted and plodded around a 7,131-yard, tree-lined course that demands precision and discourages raw power.

Two birdies. No one bogey. No frills.

"I think the experience is a huge, huge factor in a situation like this," said Arron Oberholser, who shot 70 to land in a seven-player pileup at even par. "He knows he's going to win. I think the scary thing is that maybe he knows that you know he's going to win. And that's the kicker of it all."

Woods frittered away the first 54-hole lead in his professional career, allowing Ed Fiori to chase him down from one back at the 1996 Quad City Classic. In the 39 times since that Woods has led by one stroke or more entering the final round, he has won 39 times.

"Anything's possible," said Boo Weekley, who shot the best score of the day -- 65 -- to move to within seven strokes of the lead. "He's human, ain't he?"

Perhaps, but Woods is 23-for-23 at converting leads of two or more strokes into PGA Tour victories. As if Woods hadn't stacked the deck in his favor enough, he's working in cahoots with a course that has a strong affinity for front-runners. All six of the previous players to win majors at Southern Hills led after 36 and 54 holes.

"You want to be in front on this golf course," Els said. "To shoot a low score around here without any mistakes is very tough to do. So we've got a lot of pressure on us. Tiger, with his game, can play very safe on this course off the tees. You can you hit 3-irons all day or 3-woods all day. The worst you can shoot is probably 2-over. It's when you're pushing, trying to make birdies, trying to make eagles -- that's when mistakes can come."

Sunday hiccup unlikely Woods, 31, proved at the first two majors of the season that he is capable of making mistakes on Sunday. He led briefly in the final round at the Masters, only to falter to a 72 and a second-place tie (two strokes behind Zach Johnson). At the U.S. Open at Oakmont, Woods led briefly Sunday before faltering to a 72 that left him one stroke behind Angel Cabrera.

"I've always said in order to have a great year you have to win a major championship," said Woods, who tied for 12th at the British Open. "You can win every tournament, but the majors are where it's at. I'm in good shape going into tomorrow."

His scoring average in 12 previous final rounds at a major is 69.25. Three of Woods' major victories have come at the PGA, which he won by five strokes last year at Medinah.

"I know what to do when I'm in that situation," said Woods, who hit 14 of the 18 Southern Hills greens in regulation during the third round. "I know what it takes. And there's a certain feel that you get out there that you can understand what the guys could do and capable of doing on the back nine, the round, how the wind's blowing. You just get a certain feel for what the number's going to be that day. And a lot of times, I've called the number."

Privately. His magic number for public consumption is 18 -- as in Jack Nicklaus' record total of major championships. Of the 11 players within seven strokes of Woods, Els is the only one who has won a major.

"The statistics will tell you, yes, it is over," Els said. "But as a competitor, I can't sit there and tell you it's over. I can't ever do that. So I've got to play the round of my life. We've all got to play the rounds of our lives, and he's got to have a couple of mistakes."

Asked what might compel a past major champion such as Els to declare the PGA all but over, Woods tried to suppress a smile.

"Maybe," Woods said, "because I've won 12 majors."

steve.campbell@chron.com

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