ESPN.com - Golf Online - US Open Men 2000

By David Kraft
ESPN Golf Online
Saturday, June 17

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. -- Some say the sixth hole at Pebble Beach doesn't belong with the other classics on the course.

7 At A Glance
Avg.	4.808
Rank	18
Eagles	3
Birdies	50
Pars	70
Bogeys	21
Doubles	1
Others	0

The green on the 524-yard par-5 is blind from the second shot. And sandwiched between the spectacular new par-3 fifth and the classic par-3 seventh, the sixth gets little respect.

If nothing else, it doesn't compare favorably with the two others par-5s on the course -- the difficult 14th and the scenic 18th.

Tiger Woods was thankful for it Friday, however. Coming off his first bogey of the tournament, after he hit into the bunker and couldn't get up-and-down on No. 5, Woods needed something to jumpstart him again.

And he got it in No. 6, nearly eagling the hole after reaching it in two despite putting his tee shot in the right rough. He settled for a birdie, then birdied the seventh, 11th and 12th (he had a bogey at No. 9) to move to 9-under and in firm control of the U.S. Open.

No. 6 was kind to most of the leaders. Miguel Angel Jimenez birdied i t. So did Thomas Bjorn, Angel Cabrera and Kirk Triplett. Among the top five, only Robert Damron, playing it in the near-dark, took a bogey.

The hole was the easiest on the course Friday, playing two-tenths of a stroke under par. It yielded three eagles and 50 birdies.

The four on the card by Woods may have been its most important.