Arnold Palmer had Jack Nicklaus. Nicklaus had Tom Watson.
Whom does David Toms have?
Toms, who shot 67 Friday and is at 8-under-par 136 after two rounds of the British Open, will be in the final pairing Saturday along with that other golfer, Tiger What’s-His-Name. Woods shot 66 Friday and owns a three-stroke lead.
The next person to pick Toms out of a lineup will be the first, not counting his immediate family.
Nicklaus already has passed the god-of-golf torch to Woods but wishes someone else would be in close, steady pursuit. All Tiger, all the time isn’t a good thing, he said.
“There’s going to be some guys coming along and they’re going to compete against him,” Nicklaus said. “And if it doesn’t, then you know the game of golf is going to really suffer. He’s good for the game, but he has to have challengers for the whole thing to be right. It’s a bad story if there isn’t any.”
Twenty-year-old Sergio Garcia, who is tied for third with Steve Flesch and Loren Roberts at 7 under, would be an excellent candidate to be Woods’ rival. He chased Woods at last year’s PGA Championship at Medinah Country Club and finished second.
Phil Mickelson (66 Friday) and first-round leader Ernie Els, who are at 6-under 138 along with Fred Couples and two others, have been mentioned as players with enough ability to challenge Woods.
But can they? They had better do something quickly. Woods has lost only twice in 18 tournaments when he had the lead going into the final round. He has gone 62 straight holes in major tournaments without a bogey.
He heads into the weekend with a fairly large lead and the belief the pressure is on everyone else. And the current mindset on tour is that if Woods says something, it must be true. The Open record at St. Andrews, 18-under 270 by Nick Faldo in 1990, is in serious danger, as Woods charges in with an 11-under 133 after two rounds. The weather is expected to remain mild.
“If you have the lead and struggle a little bit, you can still win the tournament,” Woods said. “Coming from behind, especially a long way behind, it is tough.”
Woods had four birdies on Friday’s front nine to announce his intentions. Even when things went wrong, which wasn’t often, he made them right. On 17, the notorious “Road Hole,” his second shot went right and landed in a thin strip of grass between a path and the road. He chipped up against a rise in the green, made the ball come back to within 8 feet of the pin and dropped the putt for par. No problem.
“I practiced that shot,” Woods said. “I figured it might end up there, and there I am.”
So this is what Toms and the rest of the field are up against: a golfer who can see into the future. Whether it includes them is questionable.
Toms won two tournaments last year and made almost $2 million. He tied for sixth in the 1998 Masters after shooting a 29 on the back nine the last day. He is in that group of players who are highly skilled and relatively unknown.
“I guess if I continue to play well, everybody will know who I am,” Toms said.
For starters he’s 33, a former star at Louisiana State and he’s playing in his first British Open.
“I guess I was a little cheap over the years and I didn’t want to come here and spend the money to qualify,” he said.
Els let what he called a perfect day for scoring get away. He shot 72 during a morning round when there was hardly any wind.
Couples had 32 on the front side and was down to 8 under before he double-bogeyed the 16th hole. He has come close at the British Open (third in 1991, fourth in 1984 and ’88), and a victory would take away the sting of the 1998 Masters, when he had the lead in the final round and lost by a stroke to Mark O’Meara.
“It would mean everything in the world,” Couples said, contradicting a perception that his desire has left him. “It would be the greatest win I ever had if I could win this week. … For me it would be absolutely incredible.”
Couples knows to do it, he likely will have to go through Woods, who is going for the career Grand Slam. But Woods warned people shouldn’t believe the tournament is over.
“I don’t have the trophy sitting next to me,” he said.
