Woods electrified the masses with an inward 5-under 30 in Friday’s second round to sign for a 68 that put him one shot out of the lead. Then Woods delivered a performance Saturday that triggered the Richter scale, one played out in front of a prime-time audience on the East Coast. In a six-hole blitz, Woods made a 60-footer for eagle on the 13th, a one-hop, chip-in dunk for birdie on the 17th, and a 40-footer for eagle on the 18th to grab a one-shot lead heading into the final round.
“That was the freakiest round I’ve ever seen,” Robert Karlsson, who played with Woods that day, said in 2009. “That back nine was unbelievable. Eagles on 13 and 18. Pitching in on 17. Just mayhem around us.”
Woods: “At the time, I was four back going to 13 and I was honestly trying to not have that gap widen. If I could keep it the same, great. If I could narrow the gap, even better. And then I make the putt on 13, I bogey 14 with a tee shot way right, and then 15, that was the one when it really hurt. There were a couple of shots where I could feel the bone in my leg break. And the tee shot on 15 was one of them. I felt it crack.
“Then 18, I just tried to hit a big slice, aimed as far left as I could. If I get it in play, I knew I could (reach the green in two) because they had the tee all the way up. I was pretty sore after 15 and then it really hurt after impact on the drive on 18 and I had to stop for a bit. But I hit the fairway, then hit the 5-wood on to the green and lo and behold, I make the bomb.”
Williams: “We get to 13 on Saturday and he hits it way right, over toward the 12th fairway. At times like that, as a caddie, when your player hits it that far offline, you hope he has a little patience as you get the yardage. It’s hard to be 100% spot on when he’s that far offline. But then, of course, he knocks it on the green, and I’m thinking it would be great if he could get a birdie. The odds of him two-putting from that far were 50-50. There was a lot of break, it was down the hill, it could go off the green. And he holes the putt and he gets incredibly pumped up. There is a glimmer of hope that if he can complete the round well, he’d have a chance on Sunday.
“He hits another wayward tee shot on 17, but he hit a great shot just to get up by the green. Then he hits the chip and the ball hits the flag and it goes in. In golf, you need a bit of luck. If the ball doesn’t hit the stick, it’s going to go 30 feet by and he’ll likely make bogey. Instead, he goes 3-3 instead of 5-5 with an incredible eagle on the last, and that’s a four-shot difference. And the crowd is going crazy. And he’s leading the tournament.”
Gareth Lord, caddie for Karlsson: “On the 18th tee, we heard (his knee) go (crunch). No doubt. But he blistered it down the fairway with a cut. Then a high 5-wood on the green. Tiger hit (the putt) and halfway you could tell. Bang, in for eagle. I could see it going in halfway there. We (Karlsson and Lord) came off the course and went straight in the bar and had a large Johnnie Walker Blue each. That was it. It was about $90 a shot, I promise you. We had seen enough.”
Young PGA Tour star Harold Varner III was 18 and working at Gaston Country Club in Gastonia, N.C.: “I just remember watching the back nine Saturday and going, ‘My lord, how is this happening?’ The putt he made from the back of the green on 13, I’m just going nuts. Then he holes out the chip and then eagles 18 and he was just making it happen. It was super motivating. He is the reason I’m out here. My goal was always to compete against Tiger.”
Two-time major champion Zach Johnson had other things on his mind as he missed the cut. Born in Iowa City and raised in Cedar Rapids, his towns were flooding: “It was a very trying week. My mind wasn’t in it. I watched the tournament. I remember Tiger hobbling, hobbling, hobbling, occasionally hitting a good shot, making a putt. Hobbling, hobbling, hobbling, occasionally hitting a good shot, making a putt. Tiger is Tiger, there was no one like him.”
