The Hindu : Sport / Golf : U.S. Open begins today

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jun 12, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Sport

Sport - Golf

U.S. Open begins today

— PHOTO: AFP

ANOTHER MAJOR BECKONS: Tiger Woods is looking forward to the U.S. Open, which gets underway on Thursday.

SAN DIEGO: The U.S. Open, San Diego-style, brought morning fog that clung to the cliffs and spilled over to Torrey Pines Golf Course when Tiger Woods showed up for another nine-hole session on Tuesday.

The setting could not have been more appropriate.

What once had been such a clear picture of this U.S. Open is now shrouded with uncertainty, starting with the left knee of the No. 1 player in the world. Woods has not played a competitive round since his runner-up finish at the Masters on April 13, having surgery two days later to clean out cartilage.

Perhaps even more startling was that Woods has not walked 18 holes since that Sunday at Augusta National — and most likely won’t until he steps to the first tee on Thursday.

Is it fully recovered? he said. “Probably not.”

Woods played 17 (holes) last Wednesday in a cart, then retreated to his club in southern California for more cart golf over the weekend. Then came nine holes at Torrey on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, and he typically doesn’t play at all the day before a Major begins.

It is not the ideal way to prepare for a Major, and Woods has that down to a science. What helps is that he has owned Torrey Pines as much as any other golf course in the world, winning the Buick Invitational for the sixth time in January, by a tournament-record eight shots.

That made him an overwhelming favourite for the U.S. Open.

Cameras flashed in the fog when Woods teed off, and thousands of spectators followed him along the back nine of the South Course, looking for a limp or the slightest sign of a game that would not be able to stand the rigours of 72 holes. That’s assuming, of course, that Woods makes it all 72 holes. — AP

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport