ESPN.com - Golf Online - PGA Championship 2000 - Woods grinds it out on back nine

By Peter Lawrence-Riddell
ESPN Golf Online
Saturday, August 19

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Tiger Woods entered Saturday with a one-stroke lead and an air of invincibility. He left the 18th green with his one-stroke lead intact, but looking very mortal.

On a day that saw a number of low scores -- Jose Maria Olazabal broke the course record with a 63 -- Woods had to claw and scratch his way to a 2-under 70. He went out with only one player within four strokes of his lead. He finished the day with seven players in that spot and three players within two strokes.

	Fans behind Dunlap
	Much of the buzz from Saturday's crowd was because Tiger Woods finally had some competition. The fans were clearly in Scott Dunlap's corner all day, with the global golfer receiving as much applause as Woods all day. "I thought I heard my name called as much as I heard Tiger's, and you know what, it was a neat experience today," Dunlap said.

Despite not going low on a day when there were a lot of red numbers, Woods insisted that he wasn't frustrated.

"If I felt better around the shots, maybe it might have been a different story," he said. "But to go out there and shoot 70 and manage the game as well as I did today, given the fact that I really wasn't striking the ball that precise, to get around with 70 was -- I think was good, even thought the conditions were a little bit easier that they were the first two days."

His round started the way each of his first two rounds began -- with a par on No. 1 and a birdie on No. 2.

He parred the next four holes, and a birdie on No. 7 looked to be the jolt he needed to get his round going. He followed with a birdie on No. 9, to shoot 33 on the front.

He birdied No. 10, making him 9-under over three days on the stretch from Nos. 7 to 10. But that would be the last birdie Woods would make until the 18th hole.

The back nine was a grind for the player that had run away from the field on Saturday in the last two majors.

"I hit some bad shots today, and that's just the way it is sometimes," he said. "You can't go out there every day and hit the ball well.

"And every major championship, you always have one day where you are not going to hit the ball well. If you can get around that day, you are going to keep yourself in the tournament."

The hole that epitomized Woods' day was No. 12, one of the hardest holes on the course.

After driving the ball into the left rough, Woods was left with two choices for his second shot: Lay the ball up and try to get up and down for par, or try to hit a miraculous hook through a 10-foot space between the woods on the left and a tree in front of him.

Woods chose the second option and hit a shot that landed just short of the green in the rough.

But after a poor chip, a missed 12-footer and another miss from less than two feet, Woods walked away from No. 12 with a double-bogey.

But there was more trouble ahead.

His approach shot on No. 15 went well over the green and left, ending up in a gnarly lie. The result was another dropped shot.

After the round, Woods said that he was looking forward to playing with a number of players close to the lead.

"I am going to have a good time tomorrow," he said.

Eighteen holes will determine if a good time equals a successful title defense.