KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C. — The three-putt bogey on the 18-hole wasn’t the best finish, but if Tiger Woods can continue to putt the way he did yesterday on the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island, he should leave the 94th PGA Championship with his 15th major championship.
Before three-putting from 25-feet on the final green, Woods’ putter rescued him time and time again en route to a 1-under-par 71. It was good enough for a share of the lead with Vijay Singh and Sweden’s Carl Pettersson heading into today’s third round of the year’s final major.
Woods posted a red number on a day when most of the field succumbed to the gusting winds that reached 30 mph. While the average score of the field hovered at 78, Woods used his putter to stay under par.
“I’m very pleased,” Woods said. “I’m very pleased to be able to shoot under par. That was the goal, anything par or better was going to be a great score and I was able to accomplish that.”
His birdies came at the par-5 2nd hole and the par-4 fourth and the par-4 12th. But he made challenging putts to save par at the first, third, fifth, seventh, 14th, 16th and 17th to stay atop the leaderboard. He chased Pettersson most to the day, but the Swede stumbled in with bogeys on three of his final four holes.
Singh, a PGA champion in 1998 and 2004, posted the day’s low round of 3-under par 69 in the morning and watched the rest of the field crumble under the elements. After 44 golfers shot under par during Thursday’s opening round, only 10 remained under par after yesterday.
“It’s tough out there,” Woods said. “You can’t take anything for granted.”
Getting off to a good start over the first five holes was crucial for Woods. The holes played mostly downwind and weren’t as vicious as those the players would face once they turned into the cross winds. He did as well as could be expected making an 8-footer for birdie at the par-5 second and a 40-footer for birdie at the par-4 fourth gave him momentum and a brief lead.
He missed a putt to save par at the par-3 eighth to drop to 4-under and missed birdie chances at 10 and 11. But a beautiful approach at the par-4 12th left him just 3 feet for a birdie he drained to move back to 5-under.
It looked like he would stay there and finish with a one-shot lead. But after reaching just his ninth green in regulation, he ran his 30-foot birdie putt some 5 feet past the cup and missed the comeback. Still Woods didn’t seem disappointed.
“I just grinded,” he said. “I just grinded my way around this golf course.”
Woods is seeking his first major championship since winning the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines. But the way the Ocean Course played yesterday, his patience and his putter will be tested for the next 36 holes.
“I’ve been in this position many times over my career,” Woods said. “We are just at the halfway point. We have a long way to go. I don’t know the forecast, but if it’s anything like it was [yesterday] it’s going to be tough.”
Woods hopes his driving will hold up. He hit 10 of 14 fairways and the ones he missed were playable, even on the 18th when his drive hit a hospitality tent and dropped onto flat ground.
“I’m swinging it well,” he said. “The thing is all year my strength has been my driving actually. People probably don’t think so but the stats, that’s what they are. I’ve been driving the ball well all year and I’ve been putting streaky all year. Finally I’ve married the two together and it’s working out.”