BAR UP, SCORES DOWN.Byline: Karen Crouse LOUISVILLE, Ky. - There has to be a fall guy for Tiger Woods' gargantuan gar·gan·tu·an adj. Of immense size, volume, or capacity; gigantic. See Synonyms at enormous. gargantuan Adjective huge or enormous [after Gargantua, a giant in Rabelais' game, lest some of the world's greatest golfers are left looking amateurish. Human nature always plays through and so it's no surprise a scapegoat has emerged this week during the PGA Championship The PGA Championship (often referred to as the U.S. PGA Championship outside of North America) is an annual golf tournament conducted by the Professional Golfers Association of America as part of the PGA Tour. . Poor Valhalla Golf Club Valhalla Golf Club, located in Louisville, Kentucky, USA, is a private golf club designed by professional golfer Jack Nicklaus. The course, which sits on a 486-acre (197 ha) property on Shelbyville Road just outside the Gene Snyder Freeway (Louisville's second bypass), was . None of the pin placements Saturday provided an easier target than the Jack Nicklaus-designed, 7,167-yard layout. The course is young and straightforward and understated. It has a history shorter than a lot of the birdie putts Jose Maria Olazabal was draining on his way to a third-round, course-record, 9-under-par 63. Naturally, when people flocked to the course Saturday to watch a golf tournament and a spirited game of limbo broke out, the 14-year-old course came under attack. The greens were too soft, the par-5s too approachable, the hazards too benign, blah, blah, blah. The truth? The golf course wasn't playing that easy; Woods, the winner of six tournaments (including two majors) this year, simply has become so tough to beat the golfers who advance to the weekend have to wield their clubs like an LAPD 1. LAPD - Link Access Procedure on the D channel. 2. LAPD - Los Angeles Police Department. baton. Everyone else has to try to beat the course into submission or risk being badly beaten by the most dominant player of this or arguably any other year. Before the 24-year-old turned professional in 1996, Saturday was known as moving day on the Tour. Not anymore. Woods reports to the starting line starting line n. Sports The point or line at which a race begins. Noun 1. starting line - a line indicating the location of the start of a race or a game scratch line, scratch, start with his pedal to the metal and never lets up. Moving Day has been replaced by Speed Week. There's no easing into the fast lane anymore - unless you're prepared to get lapped. There's a new motto on the Tour: If you can't stand the pace, get out of contention. ``If you don't play four good rounds, he's going to go out and win by 10 shots,'' Dunlap said of Woods. ``He's not easing into anything. He's trying to birdie every hole.'' Woods carded three birdies on the front nine Saturday to flit to 15-under par before giving back three strokes with a double bogey Verb 1. double bogey - to shoot two strokes over par golf, golf game - a game played on a large open course with 9 or 18 holes; the object is use as few strokes as possible in playing all the holes six at No. 12 and a bogey 5 at No. 15. Dunlap putted as if he was afraid of waking up the Fates and settled for a score of 70 - same as Woods, who retained a one-shot lead over Dunlap and Bob May. It was Mayday for the Lynwood native after he shot a 72 on Thursday. Even-par used to be considered steady; in the Woods era it's cause for concern. May found himself six shots behind the front-running Woods before the first thunderstorm thunderstorm, violent, local atmospheric disturbance accompanied by lightning, thunder, and heavy rain, often by strong gusts of wind, and sometimes by hail. had softened the greens. May, 31, managed to pull himself back into contention with consecutive 66s. Olazabal needed more magic than that after an opening 76 (10 shots worse than Woods). If he wanted to make any kind of a mark here, the Spaniard knew a sizzling siz·zle intr.v. siz·zled, siz·zling, siz·zles 1. To make the hissing sound characteristic of frying fat. 2. To seethe with anger or indignation. 3. round Saturday - hard on the heels of his second-round 68 - was compulsory. His performance would have earned him a bear hug Bear Hug An offer made by a company to buy the shares of another company that is too high for the board of the target firm to refuse. Notes: If the target company says the merger is okay but they want a higher price, it is called a "teddy bear hug. from Bela Karolyi. Olazabal's nine-birdie binge catapulted him from a tie for 30th into a tie for sixth and bumped into the background the course-record tying 65s Tom Watson and Franklin Langham Franklin Langham (born May 8, 1968) is an American professional golfer who has played on the PGA Tour in 1996, 1998-2002 and 2005 and on the Nationwide Tour in 1993-95, 1997, 2003-04 and 2006. had posted earlier in the day. All told, there were 24 sub-70 rounds Saturday. A record 53 golfers broke par, surpassing by 15 the previous record set at Riviera Country Club The Riviera Country Club is a country club with a championship golf course. It is located in Pacific Palisades, California, within the city limits of Los Angeles, California. The country club opened in 1926, with George C. Thomas, Jr. as the course architect. in 1995 (the year before Woods burst onto the professional scene). ``Obviously, Tiger is making us work harder and we have to improve our games so we can have a slim chance Noun 1. slim chance - little or no chance of success fat chance probability, chance - a measure of how likely it is that some event will occur; a number expressing the ratio of favorable cases to the whole number of cases possible; "the probability that an of beating him,'' Olazabal said. ``That is the reason why the scores are low; we know that we have to attack the golf course. We have to attack the flags. We have to go for a low number to have a chance.'' They have to hope Woods stumbles on the par-5s, which he has played in 11-under-par to this point. The back nine bit him Saturday but it was only a surface wound; after all, look who's leading with 18 holes to play. ``You look at Tiger,'' the 50-year-old Watson said, ``and you have to have your A-game on every shot, seems like. That raises the bar. He has raised the bar higher than anybody has ever raised it, as far as between him and the rest of the field.'' That's what makes Woods' dominance so great for golf. By doggedly closing in on him, the field is elevating the game. Whatever happens today, golf will never be the same. CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1) Tom Watson briefly held a share of the Valhalla course record after shooting 65 in the third round of PGA Championship. (2) Jose Maria Olazabal's 63 lowered the course record and equaled the low round for any major ever. Dave Martin/Associated Press |
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