The gang's all here

Woods in big group hot on Björn's heals at tight Open Championship

07/19/03 3:00pm EDT
SANDWICH, England (AP) -- Tiger Woods holed a shot from the bunker to take the lead and then lost it. Sergio Garcia chipped in from the fairway for an amazing par. And Mark Roe, who played as well as anyone, was sent home for using the wrong scorecard.

Another wild day at the British Open.

Amid all the craziness, Thomas Björn plodded along with a bunch of pars, good enough to grab the lead on a steamy, sunny Saturday at Royal St. George's.

The Dane shot a 2-under-par 69 which left him at 1 under through 54 holes -- and the only player under par heading to the final round Sunday.

Woods electrified the crowd with a pair of eagles on the front side, surging into the lead for the first time in the tournament with a 5-under 31. But he played the treacherous back nine at 3 over to finish with a 69.

Beginning the day four strokes behind David Love III, Woods will go to the final round two strokes behind Björn's 212.

The leader took advantage of No. 4, a short par-5 where he made an eagle. After bogeying the sixth and making birdie at 7, he finished up with 11 straight pars to earn a spot with Love in the final group on Sunday.

"Tee to green, that's probably the best golf I've ever played," Björn said. "No doubt, this is where you want to be. A chance. There's some big names up there. I've got to play solid golf to beat them."

Big names?

How about Love, Woods, Garcia, Vijay Singh and Kenny Perry -- all within two strokes of the leader.

Love held a two-stroke lead at the start of the day, only to get knocked back by a couple of three-putts bogeys on the easier stretch of holes at the start.

An eagle at No. 14 helped him salvage a round of 72 for a 213 total.

But the best shot of the day was Garcia's at the 17th. After nearly losing his ball in the thick rough along the left side, he needed two shots just to advance it to the fairway. From 60 yards away, he chipped the ball into the hole.

"That's maybe the best par I've ever made in my life," Garcia said.

No one was more unfortunate than Roe, who would have gone to the final day in contention for his first major title after shooting a 67 that equaled the best round of the tournament.

Instead, he was disqualified for failing to swap scorecards with his playing partner, Jesper Parnevik. When they signed in the scoring tent, Parnevik's 81 was on Roe's card -- and Roe's score was on the Swede's card.

No one noticed until it was too late.

"How stupid is that?" Parnevik said. "We checked our scores with the scorers. We had two (Royal & Ancient) officials checking. I can't believe in the 10 minutes we were in there, they didn't catch it."

Roe would have been in the group at 214. Instead, his tournament was over.

"What can you do?" he said. "I've just played one of the greatest rounds of my life, and I can't play tomorrow."

The fans were electrified by Woods' surge to the top of the leaderboard. He began the day four strokes back, but played the front nine at 5 under.

At No. 4, a short par-5, he reached the green in two and sank an eagle putt from about 15 feet. That was merely the warmup for a magical shot at the par-5 seventh, where he holed out his third shot from a bunker on the left side of the green to charge into the lead.

Woods threw up his arms and looked skyward as the ball dropped. Then he climbed from the sand, high-fived caddie Steve Williams and pumped his fist several times.

Then came another Tiger moment. Standing over a 30-foot putt at No. 9, he gently pushed the ball over ridge and let it curl to the right -- straight into the cup.

Woods let out a deep breath and smiled, looking like a man who intended to take control of this British Open.

It certainly was a different look than Woods had a year ago, when he struggled through his worst day as a pro at Muirfield. Going into the third round just two strokes off the lead, he shot 81 in conditions exactly opposite from these: cold and rainy, with gale-force winds.

Royal St. George's showed its bite, too.

Woods bogeyed four of the last eight holes, including a three-putt from 30 at No. 30. But at least he didn't lose his ball (that happened Thursday) or three-putt from 3 feet (the lowlight Friday).

"You figure most of the guys are going to get off to pretty good starts," Woods said. "And it's probably going to weed itself out on the back nine. At least put yourself in position so you have a chance."

Nick Faldo knew this was a day to go low. The three-time British champion went out early and shot a 67, closing the round with birdies at the final two holes -- two of the toughest on the course.

"It was that classic early Saturday morning round," said Faldo, who was five strokes back at 217. "You have a free run at it, so you just go play."

Pierre Fulke also posted a 67 to match Faldo for the best rounds of the tournament.

A blazing sun baked the already rock-hard course, making greens seem like concrete, but everyone got a break when the winds off Sandwich Bay remained fairly calm.

Faldo extended his British Open record by shooting his 35th round in the 60s. Last year, the Englishman broke Jack Nicklaus' mark of 33; Woods has 11.

"I wanted to get one more so I can keep Tiger at bay for a couple of more years," Faldo said.