LEHMAN: NO TIME TO RELAX.

Byline: Tim Brown

The night before, in a La Costa ballroom, the players of the PGA Tour handed him a trophy, told him he was the best among them, finally, after 37 years.

One round of golf later, Tom Lehman, who long into adulthood endured mini-tours from the Dakotas to destinations more barren, found it threatened already.

He stood in a flat tie with Tiger Woods after Saturday at the Mercedes Championships, and the shoving began. From here on, any Players of the Year are keeping the hardware warm for Woods, whose third-round 65 was the lowest of the week. They'll begin today at 14-under par, each with five strokes on the field, in what amounts to a match-play exercise between the Tour's man of the year and its child of destiny. Sixteen years separate them.

Lehman's career sprouted from the anonymity of $800 winner's checks in places such as Asia and South Africa. At Woods' age, he still was five years away from falling off the Tour.

Lehman sat before the Tiger-hungry media, moments after his 30-footer rolled in on the 18th green to tie Woods, and bothered not to ignore the obvious. After all, Woods birdied each of the final four holes, the third of which featured a 270-yard 3-wood into the par-5 17th green. This cluster of holes and wind and late-afternoon chill has earned itself the nickname The Longest Mile, which makes Woods something like Roger Bannister, though Woods claimed Curtis Strange once birdied in from the same point.

The child within the galleries came from four strokes behind Lehman, despite Lehman's 69, despite Woods' own back-to-back bogeys on 12 and 13. He passed Lehman twice, the second time at 18, before Lehman did Woods' 12-footer 18 feet better.

It was stirring golf, Woods in the pairing in front of Lehman and Jim Furyk - and gaining. The question to be answered today, then, is how fast.

``I don't know how good Tiger Woods really is,'' said Lehman, while his 18-month-old son clamored nearby. ``I've never played with him. If I go out (Sunday) and play really well and lose, then I'll know there's a new kid on the block who's way better than everybody else.

``I'm not sure what it's going to take to win. I'm sure Tiger will play well. He seems to have no fear to win.''

He was asked if, given the events of the previous evening, when he was named Player of the Year, and of the previous season, when he won the British Open and the Tour Championship, he had more to lose than Woods. After all, Lehman, second in the world in the Sony rankings, is among the only guys standing between Woods and utter dominance.

``Well,'' he said, ``Tom Lehman is the Player of the Year, but Tiger Woods is probably the player of the next two decades. I'm not sure if I'm the underdog or what. It's almost like trying to hold off the inevitable. I'll be very curious. Hopefully I'll play my best. If I play my best and lose, I'll know there's somebody out there better than me.''

Lehman, who has been in the lead or tied for it for seven consecutive Tour rounds, and Woods likened today's round - certainly the back nine - to match play.

``And everybody knows Tiger's match-play record,'' Lehman said with a smile.

Woods won a record 18 consecutive U.S. Amateur matches. His last 18.

``I gotta say, though, I'm not a powder-puff either,'' he said. ``I've never been one to back down. I look forward to a challenge like this. We'll see what happens.''

Woods birdied seven holes and eagled another Saturday, despite iron play that faded in and out through the round, and despite an admission from his father Friday night that he would undergo coronary bypass surgery, probably in February. His galleries continued to swell in the shadows of La Costa's eucalyptus trees, so much so that Lehman found it unnecessary to glance at many leaderboards.

``I heard four big roars coming down the stretch,'' said Lehman, one for each of Woods' birdies. ``So it didn't take a rocket scientist to know what was going on up ahead of us.''

At issue now is what's coming up from behind them. Tiger Woods, who last season dueled Davis Love III into extra holes and won the Las Vegas Invitational, and two weeks later shot a final-round 66 to defeat Payne Stewart in the Walt Disney World/Oldsmobile Golf Classic, today takes his shot at the hottest player in the world.

Said Woods: ``That's kinda what I was shooting for.''