Woods restamps his authority at The Western Open
BY Bruce Young | US PGA Tour | 2003 100th Western Open | Wrap | 07 Jul 2003
“Thanks for coming boys” could well have been Tiger Wood’s comment as he walked from the last green of this week’s Western Open, a five shot winner.
Tiger has had to endure the endless questions of the media over the past few weeks suggesting he is in the middle of a slump and I imagine he would have enjoyed putting that to rest, or at least until he goes another six events without a win that is.
“One of the things I’ve learned about being out here is not to get trapped in this up-and-down rollercoaster of the press, sensationalism,” he said afterwards.
He led from his opening 63 and never really gave anyone else a look in although Rich Beem did make a little ground over the closing holes to finish in second place. The final round was plagued by stoppages and in the end they were lucky to get the event finished. A layover until Monday would have caused all sorts of complications for those heading for Scotland and then the British Open, so it was a blessing to be able to get the job done today.
Woods is now just $US30000 behind Weir on the money list with $US4.25 million, which I guess is not too bad for a golfer in a supposed slump. Weir picked up $234000 for his share of third with Jim Furyk and defending champion, Jerry Kelly.
Beem was the one to make some sort of run at Tiger in the final round, but the task was always going to be too great given the fact that it was Tiger in front. His (Beem’s) run of five under from holes ten through fourteen opened up a very small window of opportunity, but although Tiger went backwards with two late bogies, the gap was too much for anyone to realistically have a chance of closing.
And so Tiger heads to Europe with his 105th consecutive cut behind him tying the Nicklaus’ total and bearing down on that of Byron Nelson’s 113. He showed this week that the British Open is at his mercy if he can produce his best. He has however only won that event once in eight attempts, so it perhaps not as automatic as some may suggest.
It was a much awaited return to form for the PGA Champion Beem, who has had just the one top ten in seventeen starts this year until now. It may be that he fell into the trap of taking too much advantage of his enhanced status as a major winner following the PGA win and travelled extensively accepting invites all over the world. Now that he has that out of the system and is to be a father in the next few months for the first time, he seems to be back on track.
Robert Allenby, a previous winner at this course, continued his good run of form at the Dubsdread course at the Cog Hill complex finishing in a tie for sixth, although he will have been disappointed with his finish after sharing second during the final round. He bogeyed the last two holes slipping him from third to sixth and spending a lot of money in the process.
John Senden continues to creep towards security for 2004 with a share of 27th place and a cheque for $US33,000. He is now around 100th on the money list. Peter Lonard slipped over the back nine to finish 37th with Craig Perks and Anthony Painter was 60th.
The event also saw a further fifteen golfers gain a start at the British Open. The top eight in this event here and not already exempt for Royal St Georges are now in and are; Dudley Hart, Scott McCarron, Skip Kendall, Ben Curtis, Luke Donald, Jose Coceres, Chris Smith and Tom Byrum.
Another seven get in via an accumulative money list from the TPC until this event and they are Jonathan Kaye, Cliff Kresge, Rory Sabbatini, Duffy Waldorf, Joey Sindelar, Joe Durant and J.L Lewis.
