Asked for his previous such display, he said, "Hoylake. I did all right there."
From the Memorial, he rang in 67.9% of his tee shots at the U.S. Open (tied for sixth) and 73.2% at the AT&T National (won that too), with his length re-lengthening as he went along and his rebuilt knee offering no problem.
Now, he eyeballs a major course whose three British Open winners are Tom Watson in 1977, Greg Norman in 1986 and Nick Price in 1994, three best-on-earth-at-that-time sorts, with an intensely honorable mention to Jack Nicklaus, who finished one behind Watson but 10 ahead of everyone else in 1977.
"I think you look at the guys who were some of the best ball-strikers," Woods said, "and at this golf course you can understand why. . . . You've got to hit some really good shots and you've got to understand why the last three champions are some of the best ball-strikers. You have to do that here."
And while Norman shot one of the sport's greatest rounds -- a second-round 63 in appalling weather -- the need for accuracy aches ever more with the rain-fed rough of 2009 plus the latest 21st-century course-toughening tricks.
Even the fearsome and pig-headed gorse, while often well beyond the first areas of rough, appears especially green and predatory. A recent tournament of 150 members featured 480 lost balls, Colin Montgomerie reported last week at the Scottish Open while adding, "So there's 480 golf balls lying around there somewhere," and, "If you do miss the fairway, my goodness me."
Graeme McDowell said of No. 17, "I've never seen rough as thick in all my life." Harrington: "Nature is taking its course." Perry: "To me it seems like you're penalized more for your off-line shots here."
And Angel Cabrera, the reigning Masters champion, has surveyed the bunkers and declared, "I think I'm going to be playing short of the bunkers pretty much all week. That will be my strategy." Across the country at the rigorous Carnoustie, he said, "You can attack a few holes" and "hit the driver off the tee more often. Here, you have to be cautious all the time."
"You just can't fake it around this golf course," Woods concluded, and while he has never had to fake it, the evidence shows that he definitely and brilliantly has finagled it. Only of late, he hasn't even had to do that.
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chuck.culpepper@yahoo.com
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British Open
Thursday-Sunday
at Turnberry, Scotland Ailsa Course
