Tiger Woods tees off at the fourth hole, with a boat carrying a sail honoring 1999 champion Payne Stewart in the background.
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The battle within the battle is for a place in the top 15 and a spot in next year's Open. Retief Goosen chipped in on No. 18 to climb into a tie for 12th with Paul Azinger, Michael Campbell and Jose Maria Olazabal. Eight-over, or 20 shots behind Woods, was good enough for the top 15.
Robert Damron was on the first page of the leaderboard Friday night at 3-over. Back-to-back 84s on the weekend left him in last place.
Hale Irwin played two rounds in the 60s. Unfortunately for him, his other two rounds were 78 and 81. Unless he qualifies or gets a special exemption, Irwin played in his final Open. His 10-year exemption for winning the third of his three titles in 1990 ran out.
Remember all the Bobby Clampett hoopla following his opening-round 68? He shot 77-76-77 the final three and tied for 37th.
Vijay Singh tied for eighth, marking the first time since 1990 that a Masters champion finished in the top 10 at the U.S. Open that same year.
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The other U.S. Open
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. -- They held a really competitive golf tournament this week at Pebble Beach.
Honest. At one point mid-round Sunday, 10 players were within four shots of the "lead." The "leaderboard" fluctuated shot by shot.
Of course, that leaderboard was for second place. It was a private tournament for the 62 players who survived the cut and were not named Tiger Woods. The title was shared by Miguel Angel Jimenez and Ernie Els, neither of whom received a trophy. They did pocket $391,150 each, however.
"It felt different out there today," said Els, who has two U.S. Open titles and knows what it's supposed to feel like. "It didn't feel like a U.S. Open at all. It felt very weird being so far behind -- playing in the last group and having no chance of winning."
"I feel great finishing second in this tournament," said Jimenez.
Woods made Sunday at the U.S. Open seem like any other final round at the Quad Cities Open or the Kapalua Invitational. Other than Woods' bid to become the first player to finish the Open under par in double figures, Sunday at Pebble Beach had all the electricity of a Barry Manilow concert.
"It's almost disappointing," said Tom Kite, who had to battle a little harder for his Open title at Pebble Beach eight years ago. "You can feel it in the air. There's so little excitement with the gallery. I know we're early off, but there's no noise out there, no enthusiasm in the gallery. It's almost like the tournament's over and it's not even an exciting day."
"I just tried to get into red numbers," said Els. "You just try to play as well as you can and try to get this day over and done with."
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Deja vu: Tom Watson knocked his tee shot on the 17th hole over the green and into the rough Sunday, prompting visions of 1982. That year, he chipped in to beat Jack Nicklaus. This year, he missed. "I was in a different position, obviously, and it wasn't exactly the same shot," Watson said. "But I did think about making it. That would have been some story to talk about."
30 will get you ...: Richard Zokol shot 30 on the front nine Sunday, the third time that has happened in U.S. Open history at Pebble. The other two were George Burns (1982) and Andy Dillard (1992). Zokol finished 32nd. Burns tied for 30th and Dillard tied for 17th.
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OVERHEARD
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MONTGOMERIE
On leading the tournament in fairways hit: "That's great. They should put the hole in the fairway." |
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KITE
On Woods: "Nobody else seems to be playing up to his level. No one is scrambling the way he is. No one is pitching, chipping, putting the way he is." |
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O'MEARA
On how good Woods is: "If you were building the complete golfer, you'd build Tiger Woods." |
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JANZEN
On the final round: "Sunday morning, you're 18 shots behind the leader. You don't exactly charge the first fairway with confidence." |
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ESPN's Andy North and Karl Ravech break down Tiger Woods' U.S. Open victory.
Tiger Woods says it feels great to win the U.S. Open.