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(AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Tiger Woods reacts after missing a birdie putt on the 17th hole during the final round of the U.S. Open Golf Championship at Bethpage State Park's Black Course in Farmingdale, N.Y., Monday, June 22, 2009.
FARMINGDALE, N.Y. -- Tiger Woods walked past the Bethpage clubhouse slowly Monday morning, head down. He stepped toward the podium in the media interview area with unblinking eyes, like a man headed for the gallows.
His face was a mix of anger, frustration, disbelief and, oh yeah, did I mention anger? In short, he was pissed. To say it more politely would be a failure to report accurately. You would be ticked off, too, if the other players had done their best to back up and hand you the United States Open championship and you didn't step forward and grab it (like you usually do).
"Second-place sucks" is Tiger's famous mantra. It sucks worse this week because he played Tiger Woods golf and still didn't win. That almost never happens. For the most part, Tiger was on with his long game, and when that happens you can normally chalk up another major championship -- this would've been No. 15.
But that didn't happen here Monday morning. Woods didn't even stick around to see who did survive Bethpage Black. After a quick interview, he walked across the adjacent parking lot in front of the clubhouse, climbed in the passenger side of a maroon Buick Enclave -- he's still driving Buicks even after the company canceled its endorsement deal? -- and made a quick exit. Caddie Steve Williams backed the car out of the parking spot. At 11:56 a.m., Tiger was on his way out of Bethpage, out of New York and, most significantly, out of the U.S. Open.
But that didn't happen here Monday morning. Woods didn't even stick around to see who did survive Bethpage Black. After a quick interview, he walked across the adjacent parking lot in front of the clubhouse, climbed in the passenger side of a maroon Buick Enclave -- he's still driving Buicks even after the company canceled its endorsement deal? -- and made a quick exit. Caddie Steve Williams backed the car out of the parking spot. At 11:56 a.m., Tiger was on his way out of Bethpage, out of New York and, most significantly, out of the U.S. Open.
Playing well and not winning is a game with which Tiger is not familiar. He said afterwards that this performance was more frustrating than his week at the Masters. Just like Augusta, he had a chance to make a back-nine run and swoop in for the win. Just like Augusta, he fell short, ultimately tying for sixth with a closing 69. Unlike Augusta, however, his ballstriking was excellent.
"I striped it this week," he said. "I hit is just like I did at Memorial and, unfortunately, I didn't make anything. The greens are a little slow and bumpy, but you have to be committed to hitting it that hard, and I left a lot of putts short. Then when I tried to hit them harder, I gunned them past the holes. I didn't make the adjustment."
Slow and bumpy greens have always been Tiger's least favorite style of golf. He gave that as the main reason he hasn't played in the tour stops at Pebble Beach or Riviera lately. There wasn't much chance of the Black course's greens being firm and fast, not with recurring rain storms that pushed the 72-hole conclusion to Monday and forced the USGA to move many of the tees up to compensate for the soggy conditions.
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"This is a great golf course," Woods said, adding that he'd like to see Bethpage Black host another U.S. Open. "It's just that the USGA got the short end of the stick on the weather. We have yet to play it hard and fast the two years we've played. It was kind of getting that way in 2002 in the beginning of the week until it rained on Friday. This course would play so differently. They had to put a lot of the tees up because it was so soft, and I'm sure they did that on 18 because the fairway is basically underwater."
If you thought Woods was hopelessly out of it at the start of the final round, or at the re-start of today's final round, then you don't know much about Tiger or U.S. Open history. Woods was eight shots behind Ricky Barnes, who had already bogeyed the first hole, and Lucas Glover. But Woods played an uneventful round, making very little happen. A lot of that was the Black Course's doing, thanks to some difficult pins and a breeze that came up midway through the morning.
Tiger's final four holes were a microcosm of his week. He hit nothing but terrific shots on the last four and played them in one over par.
First came a mini-run that got him back into the picture while the leaders continued to falter. For the second straight day, Woods hit it pin-high in two on the par-5 13th. Both shots were reminiscent of the eagle moments he enjoyed last year at Torrey Pines. He curled eagle putts close both times but settled for birdies. After Monday's two-putt birdie, he was even par, five off the lead.
The pin at the par-3 14th was way up, and Tiger promptly hit a little 8-iron shot that landed past the hole and spun back to three feet below the hole. When the putt dropped, Woods did a fist pump. The birdie-birdie binge (the Open is the only place two birdies in a row is called a binge) poked Tiger into red numbers for the first time all week.
Tiger doesn't get theatrical until he sniffs the lead. He knew then that, with the course playing tough and only three players ahead of him, one or two more birdies might be enough.
We return now to the aforementioned microcosm of Tiger's good-hit-no-score week. After a perfect drive on the par-4 15th, Woods flagged an approach shot. He was staring it down when it flew just over the back of the green. He mouthed, "Oh, darn," in disgust, except the word was stronger than darn. (And who could blame him?) Pitching out of the wet, thick rough was no bargain, and Tiger left himself a 10-footer for par, which he missed.
"That shot at 15 was the best shot I hit all week," Woods explained. "It was just a little 5-iron; I had to flight it down just a touch, and I held it and it was a foot left of the flag. I couldn't believe I hit it that far. I probably played the next shot too conservatively. If I hit that pitch too hard, it's gone. I just didn't go with it. If it rolled out, it would be great, but then I hit a poor putt."
There's your microcosm. The stroke that effectively ended Tiger's Open chances was the best shot he hit all week. Is this game fair? Don't answer. "I gave myself so many chances and made nothing," said Tiger, who had singled out the 15th as the Black course's pivotal hole early in the week and played it in four over par (with two bogeys and a double).
Woods still had an outside chance if he could birdie two of the last three, and he tried. After a perfect drive at 16, he stuck a nice approach shot to 15 feet. He pounded the must-make birdie attempt four feet past, then holed that for par.
At the par-3 17th, he played another superb iron shot to eight feet. He missed the putt on the high side. Woods spent a few long seconds staring at the ground. The Open was gone and he knew it.
There was no reason to hit driver at the short 18th, but when you're not winning the Open, there's no reason not to, either. Woods bombed his driver way down to the first cut of rough, then wedged to 18 feet. He rolled a good putt that curled away from the cup at the end. Then Tiger did something you never, ever see him do, something he'd never do with a title on the line. He tapped in the leftover putt from less than a foot one-handed with his right hand. For a consummate competitor like Woods, that's as close as you're ever going to get to seeing the white flag of surrender.
He doffed his cap to the applauding fans and mouthed, "Thanks." It wasn't a long walk uphill from the green to the scoring area, where Woods signed for a score that wasn't going to win the Open, but it was long enough.
