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On the Course Love will have to work hard to overtake Woods
Posted: Saturday March 18, 2000 09:34 PM
By Gary Van Sickle, Sports Illustrated ORLANDO -- The finish of the Bay Hill Invitational will be a replay of the most popular question asked on the PGA Tour in the last year: Can anybody here beat Tiger Woods? The answer sometimes is yes. Darren Clarke, looking like an overstuffed Ben Hogan, beat Woods in the final of the Andersen Consulting World Match Play Championship with absolutely brilliant golf. Phil Mickelson withstood a charge from Woods to win the Buick Invitational and end Woods' much-hyped six-event winning streak. Sunday at Bay Hill, it'll be Davis Love's turn. Woods took control of this tournament with a second-round 64 but Love put himself into the race Saturday with a superb 63 in gusty conditions. Woods leads Love by two and Canadian lefty Mike Weir by six shots through 54 holes. Barring an act of God or a Woods collapse, which may or may not be the same thing, or the return of the Montreal Canadiens of the 1960s, this finish has a one-on-one look: Woods versus Love. Woods trounced Love in the semifinal of the World Match Play Championship, sizzling through 14 holes in eight under par. Woods also hammered Woods during the PGA Grand Slam, an offseason event in Hawaii. So Love knows Woods has his number, so to speak. And Woods knows Love knows.
Call it an intimidation factor or whatever you like, facing Woods is a formidable challenge that often affects the challenger's play. Just as opponents often fell down in the wake of seeing Jack Nicklaus' name pop onto the leaderboard, so too are opponents quaking somewhat when Woods is in the hunt. It's a palatable, discernible phenomenon that may be worth one or two shots to Woods. Clarke didn't fall victim to it at the Match Play but several other players did, notably Michael Campbell, Shigeki Maruyama and Paul Lawrie. "He's the number one player in the world," Love said. "There's no getting around that and it's hard to beat him. How you perform when you play against him is the question. I've had two match play matches with him and felt like I was playing very well and went out there and just got smoked. I'm not the only one. He's beating the whole tour." "I think he expects that coming down the stretch, he's not only going to play well, the other guy is not going to play as well as he can because he's trying too hard to keep up," Love said. Love will spot Woods two strokes going into the final round. Can anybody beat Woods? At Bay Hill, Love looks like the only one with half a chance.
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