Others chase Tiger, but now he only chases history

Tiger Woods is playing like Tiger Woods again. And that, says Tim Dahlberg, means this Open Championship is all but a done deal and that Woods is seriously back on track to break Jack Nicklaus' all-time majors record.

By Tim Dahlberg, AP Sports Columnist

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland (AP) -- The only real challenge to Tiger Woods on this day came from a man twice his age. Jack Nicklaus wasn't going to beat Woods on the course, so he settled for the hearts of the fans.

The last drama in this Open Championship played out on an unusually sunny afternoon at the birthplace of golf. In one group was the best player of his generation; a few holes behind was the player who will eventually be called the best who has ever played the game.

The two shared a stage, with Nicklaus bidding the tearful goodbye that was as poignant as it was expected. Woods did some bidding of his own, saying goodbye to anyone who might think the claret jug is still in doubt.

They usually have to wait until the final hole or two on Sunday to engrave the winner's name on the ancient trophy. The way Woods is playing, they could save some overtime for the silversmith and do it right now.

The lead was four, should have been six, could have been a dozen. The numbers don't matter all that much because Woods won't be giving any of it up.

He'll win his 10th major championship, and he'll do it wire-to-wire. He'll do it because, after a few years of struggling, he's suddenly Tiger Woods once again.

He'll do it because even his closest challenger believes he's now playing for second place.

"If Tiger Woods plays the way Tiger Woods can play around this type of course," said Colin Montgomerie, "I would have to agree."

Give Monty credit for being honest. Some of the others chasing Woods would pay for their own golf balls or give up their Lexus courtesy cars rather than admit what's really going on.

The truth is, Woods is once again beginning to intimidate other players the way he did the last time he won here, when he was in the midst of an incredible streak of seven wins in 11 major championships.

They watch him on the putting green out of the corner of an eye, and they pause to look when he stands on the first tee. His name has been at the top of every yellow scoreboard they've looked at for the last two days.

With a retooled swing and a big graphite-shafted driver, Woods is hitting the ball 20 to 25 yards farther off the tee. Even better, he's hitting it where he aims, something he struggled with even during his reign as the world's best player.

"I'm trying to place the ball where I want to place it and that's it," Woods said. "It doesn't get any more complicated than that."

It's hardly that simple, of course, or some other players might have figured it out by now. Sure, the Old Course played relatively benign Friday, but Woods was putting for eagle an astonishing five times on his way to a second-round 67 and a four-shot lead.

Woods methodically worked his way around, three groups behind the Nicklaus farewell tour. The massive crowds seemed to have spent their energy cheering the Golden Bear on and reacted with only polite applause when Woods made a 5-footer on the third hole for his first birdie of the day.

Perhaps they had come to expect birdies from Woods. After all, he made eight the day before.

Or maybe they just figured their money was already safe. In a country that loves a good wager, so many Brits bet on Woods at odds as low as 5-2 that bookies are fearing they will take a hit of several million pounds on Sunday.

"Our customers are backing him as though defeat were out of the question," a spokesman for betting firm William Hill said earlier this week.

Defeat is not totally out of the question. There are ways Woods can lose the tournament.

He might twist an ankle, or get hit with a stray golf ball on one of the seven double greens that players share on the Old Course. Someone might slip him a pouch of bad haggis, the dish of oatmeal and sheep innards that Scots love so much.

Other than that, Monty is probably right. It's time to start playing for second.

Leave Woods to his chase of history because it's about all he's got left. As a child he posted Nicklaus' statistics on his bedroom wall, and as an adult he's likely to obliterate them.

A win on Sunday pushes Woods into double figures in major championships, one behind Walter Hagen and within eight of Nicklaus. At age 29, he'll easily pass Nicklaus during his 30s even if he wins only one major a year.

The record means everything to Woods.

"He's the greatest champion who's ever lived," he said of Nicklaus.

Woods didn't mind taking the symbolic baton handed to him by the 65-year-old Nicklaus on a beautiful Scottish afternoon. He's comfortable taking Nicklaus on in the history books, and adding to his already large legacy.

He has only one regret.

"I would have loved to have gone head-to-head against him in his prime," Woods said. "I think we would have had a lot of fun."

Copyright 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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