20 May 22, 2022The Sunday Times 2GSGolf US PGA Championship
‘Woods will no doubt
work harder and
hope he has added
endurance by the
time of St Andrews’ing alongside Woods for the first two
rounds. “He’s feeling it on every
swing. Look, he’s the ultimate pro.
Looking at him [on Thursday] if that
had been me I would have been con-
sidering pulling out and just going
home. But Tiger is different, and he’s
proved he’s different.”
While his peers were peddling
plaudits at the halfway stage, Woods
had moved on. He is not doing this to
make cuts and bask in the embrace of
a long farewell. He genuinely thinks
he can win a 16th major and is sure he
can move clear of Sam Snead on 82
PGA Tour wins. He has made it clear
that if that belief fades he will quit, but
Woods is something of a quit-less
wonder and that can make him seem
delusional at his low points.
Woods was shocked by how his leg
deteriorated during the weekend at
the Masters, when he finished 47th at
13 over par. This was a sad repeat. The
crowd cringed as he hit bad shot after
bad. Lacking feel, accuracy and the
ability to squat to read putts, some
may have pondered the point.
But you sense Woods is relishing
the physical nature of this challenge.
With the easy money on offer from
Saudi Arabia’s breakaway series, it is
possible to succumb to the belief that
golfers are molly-coddled millionaires
who prefer the chaise longue to the
long haul.
Woods, lest we forget, wanted to be
a Navy SEAL and spent a couple of
years training with them. Some of the
instructors were dismissive, thinking
they were indulging a rich man’s
fantasy, but he carried the packs, was
splattered during paintballing, and
watched a mock attack on an Afghan
village. One telling remark came from
a SEAL who was impressed by Woods’
willingness to throw himself out of a
plane. “He can literally think himself
through the sky dives,” he said.
So, too, he is willing himself
through this. Looking back to
Augusta, he said: “It was more mind
than body.”
It will take mind and body for some-
one else to emerge from one of the
more interesting PGA tests of recent
years this afternoon.RICK
BROADBENTSouthern Hills, TulsaJ
ustin Thomas distilled the
essence of Tiger Woods when
asked about his friend’s come-
back from the 85mph car crash
that left him with open
wounds, shattered bones and a
festering threat of amputation.
“He’s not a normal person,” he
said at the US PGA Championship at
Southern Hills.
He meant it in a good way, and
Woods underscored the words by
making the cut, just as he had at the
Masters. But a torrid third round then
brutally exposed his physical fragility.
No normal sporting superstar
would risk such trauma. He had
searched his spirit for leftover drops
of class to notch a 69 on Friday, but
that morphed into an awful nine-over-
par 79 yesterday. His worst PGA
Championship round included five
consecutive bogeys, a first in hisprofessional career at the majors, and
a watery triple bogey. In his seven
comeback rounds so far, he is now a
cumulative 25 over par.
“I didn’t do anything right,” he
said. Would he play the final round?
“Well, I’m sore,” he said. “I know that
for a fact. We’ll do some work and see
how it goes.” He skipped his media
duties but limped away.
He was not the only one struggling
— and it was hard going for all. A
weather-delayed start segued into
personal battles, most of which were
lost. Rory McIlroy certainly wore the
look of the defeated by the turn. He
had started five shots off the lead and
was steadily rolling in pars until he got
the 6th. The wind had turned this 218-
yard par three into a head-wrecking
test and this was where Woods had
come to grief, albeit you could have
said that about plenty of holes.
McIlroy also found the creek. That
double bogey put him eight off the
lead and Thursday’s bouncy opening
round gave way to a deflating déjà vu.
Instead, Mito Pereira, the Santiago-
born world No 100 playing in only his
second major, overhauled Will Zalato-
ris at the top, while Bubba Watson, theIS IT WORTH PAIN?
12th hit the lip, bounced back against
his leg and came to rest against a sand-
castle. His second attempt failed to
escape. The third went in. It was a
bogey with bells on.
At least McIlroy knows he will have
plenty more chances, but where and
when will this Woods’ comeback end?
By the time the overnight leader, Zala-
toris, set out, he was 21 shots ahead of
Woods. The cold, wet conditions did
not help, but the obvious conclusion
is that his body is not yet ready for a
competitive, four-day tournament.
He looked in worsening pain and it
was excruciating to watch too.
The question is, will he get better?
It is early days on the comeback trail
but he needs three hours of physio to
get ready for each round. Then he
spends an age in ice baths. He is 46
and, even before he rolled his Genesis
SUV in Los Angeles 15 months ago, he
had undergone five back operations
as well as a couple of knee surgeries.
Yet even if some of the golf on his
comeback has been beneath ordinary,
there is a bloody-minded brilliance to
what he is doing.
“Just incredibly resilient and men-
tally tough,” said McIlroy, after play-Woods needs three hours of treatment just
to get on course but after a third-round 79...
Woods plays
into the 5th
during his
third round,
when the
previous two
days caught
up with himANDREW REDINGTONON TV TODAY
US PGA Championship
Sky Sports Golf, 1pmLEADERBOARD
AFTER TWO ROUNDS
-9 W Zalatoris (US) 66, 65.
-8 M Pereira (Chile) 68, 64.
-6 J Thomas (US) 67, 67.
-5 B Watson (US) 72, 63.
-4 R McIlroy (N Ire) 65, 71; A Ancer (Mex)
67, 69; D Riley (US) 68, 68.
-3 M Fitzpatrick (Eng) 68, 69; S Cink (US)
69, 68.
-2 C Kirk (US) 68, 70; T Hatton (Eng) 70, 68;
M Kuchar (US) 67, 71; C Smith (Aus) 68, 70;
C Young (US) 71, 67; S Burns (US) 71, 67;
G Woodland (US) 70, 68.US PGA
LATEST
To read Rick Broadbent’s
completed third-round report
from Southern Hills, go to
THESUNDAYTIMES.CO.UK/SPORTworld No 73, made surprising inroads.
For other contenders, such as
Thomas, Abraham Ancer and Davis
Riley, the job was to hang on in a far
more assured fashion than McIlroy
had managed.
Elsewhere, Jon Rahm stomped off
after reaching eight over par. Matt
Fitzpatrick, well-placed after two
rounds, bogeyed his first two holes
but then chipped in from a bunker on
the 5th. That was positively routine
fare compared with Kramer Hickok.
The American’s bunker shot on the