ESPN.com - Golf Online - Tour Championship 2000 - Duval grabs lead, date with Woods

Associated Press
Sunday, November 5

ATLANTA -- David Duval was right where he wanted to be -- healthy, leading the Tour Championship and primed for another matchup with Tiger Woods.

Perhaps this time, the duel will meet expectations.


	After a shaky start, Tiger Woods played the final 12 holes in 6-under.

Duval turned potential disaster into an unlikely birdie and had a 2-under 68 on Friday, giving him a one-stroke lead in the Tour Championship and another pairing with the No. 1 player in the world.

"He's the standard right now by which you're comparing your golf," Duval said. "I want to go out and play good golf, and show him I can play, too."

Playing in the same tournament with Woods for the first time since the British Open, Duval finished his two trips around East Lake Golf Club at 7-under 133, one stroke ahead of Woods (66) and Chris Perry (65).

Woods took a bogey from the bunker on the par-3 sixth and was 2-over for the day when he said to caddie Steve Williams, "Enough is enough." He birdied three of the next five holes, and shot himself into contention with a 20-foot eagle putt on No. 15.

"I'm right back in the tournament," said Woods, who is trying to join Byron Nelson, Ben Hogan and Sam Snead as the only players to win at least 10 times on tour in one season.

Perry, who last week moved into 30th on the money list to qualify for the Tour Championship, was tied for the lead until making a bogey from the bunker on the 18th. That put Woods and Duval in the last pairing.

And just like that, a $5 million tournament with no season-ending awards on the line suddenly got some excitement.

Woods and Duval are the only players who have been ranked No. 1 in the world over the last three years. They have played together only five times in their careers, with Woods shooting a lower score on four of those occasions.

But Saturday will be only the second time they have been paired in the final group.

The first time came at St. Andrews, when Woods took a six-stroke lead into the final round and became the youngest player, at 24, to complete the Grand Slam.

Duval was struggling that week with a bad back, barely able to bend over to stick a tee in the ground. He eventually was forced out of golf for 10 weeks.

"The only regret I have about that week is something I can't change," he said. "I wish I could have played without a back injury. I dare say that had I not been injured ... things might have been different."

But after winning the Buick Challenge in his first tournament back, and playing close to the form that made him No. 1 for four months in 1999, Duval relished the opportunity to go toe-to-toe with Woods.

"I think I have a great shot this week," he said.

Woods and Duval have developed a good relationship off the course. Woods selected Duval as his partner for the World Cup next month in Argentina.

"It'll be fun to play with my partner," Woods said.

The fun began not long after Duval finished his round when he said, "I hope he gets used to hitting first" from the fairway.

"I can't hit the ball as far as Tiger. There's no two ways about that," Duval said later. "I hit it plenty far, so it's not a big deal."

Duval cautioned, however, that beating Woods does not guarantee victory at East Lake. Just last week, Steve Flesch was paired with Woods for the last two rounds at Disney, kept his one-stroke margin and ended up finishing second to Duffy Waldorf.

"I don't come here thinking that I have to just beat Tiger," he said. "If you get caught up competing against one player, you're not going to win golf tournaments that you maybe should."

Indeed, a day of bad lies and bizarre shots resulted in four changes on the leaderboard, and 10 players within four shots of the lead when the second round was over.

Masters champion Vijay Singh and Paul Azinger each had a 66 and were at 5-under 135. Another stroke back were David Toms (67), Phil Mickelson (69) and Ernie Els (72).

Mickelson and Els each had the lead at one point on a warm, breezy day, and both found trouble -- either on one hole (Mickelson) or all 18 holes (Els).

Els began the day with a one-stroke lead and failed to make a birdie.

"Sometimes, it's hard when you go for a great score to go out there and find it again," said Els, who was eight strokes worse than his opening round.

Mickelson was at 7-under and leading the tournament until his approach to the 16th found the deep rough framing a bunker. He tried a flop shot, but his sand wedge slid under the ball and moved only far enough to trickle into the bunker. He wound up with a double-bogey.

Duval appeared to be headed to a similar fate on the par-5 15th when his ball was caked with mud after landing in the soft fairway. His approach squirted 50 yards to the right through the trees, and a bump-and-run to the green kicked into a bunker.

No problem. He holed the shot for birdie, then made a nice up-and-down to save bogey after hitting into the slope of the fairway bunker on No. 17.

Still, he played well enough to be leading the Tour Championship -- and well enough to get another pairing with Woods.