Tiger Woods surges at US Open but Dustin Johnson
Saturday, Woods truly returned. He did so at Pebble Beach Golf Links, where 10 years ago this week he recorded one of his most historic victories. He did so in the third round of the U.S. Open, which he entered -- if this is even possible -- as something of an afterthought. He did so after bogeying two of his first three holes, somehow turning around his day -- and the entire tournament -- with an oh-no-here-he-comes 66.And he did so as Dustin Johnson -- a 25-year-old South Carolinian who hits the ball, as Woods said, "for miles" -- matched him shot for shot.
"I played better," Woods said, and he smiled. Johnson, though, was able to duplicate those pearly whites, because his own 66 thrust him into the lead at 6-under-par 207. He is three strokes ahead of Irishman Graeme McDowell, who played icily until bogeys at 16 and 17, but still managed 71. They are the only men ahead of Woods, whose 15th major championship -- an unlikely notion after his first three holes -- is within reach.
"It does feel good to play this well going into a final round," Woods said, "and I put myself back in the tournament."
That Johnson held up as Woods threatened to overtake the tournament speaks to his enormous talent and his comfort level here. He has won the last two PGA Tour stops at Pebble Beach, and his confidence -- brashly hitting driver where others cowered -- was obvious. Just as Woods's name loomed on the leader board, Johnson birdied the final two holes to stretch out his advantage.
"This is what I live for," Johnson said. "This is what I practice for every day. It's what we play golf for, is to have a chance to win a U.S. Open."
Only a few do. Phil Mickelson, who shot his own 66 Friday, slipped back to 1 over with a 73. Frenchman Gregory Havret and two-time Open champ Ernie Els are the only men between Mickelson and Woods, both at even par.
"Anything can happen on Sunday," Mickelson said. Woods made it happen Saturday. His closing charge began when he ran in an eight-footer at the 16th. There came his first true fist-pump of the season, and he moved on to the diabolical par-3 17th. He was still six shots back of Johnson, who had just come within inches of acing the tiny seventh -- which played Saturday, at 99 yards, the shortest hole in Open history -- and was swinging beautifully.
"When he's on," Woods said, "it's pretty fun to watch."
At 17, Woods pulled a 5-iron and bounced one past the front, right hole. Just as he had some momentum, he was staring at a slippery downhill "joke," he called it.
"Don't throw away the round now," he said he thought to himself, because the putt could easily have run three or four deadly feet by. So instead of throwing away the round, he made it better, curling in an impossibly deft 15-footer for his second consecutive birdie, his fourth of the back nine.
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