Tiger dodges friendly fire and keeps his eye on the target

STONEWALLING is a sporting expression more associated with cricket but Tiger Woods brought it to a fine art at Augusta National yesterday.

He was confronted by a veritable battery of pressmen, many of whom almost begged him to debate the social problems besetting the United States, not just the Iraqi war but more pertinently this week, the host club's rule that debars women from membership. The friendly fire came from all directions.

The first bullet was loaded something like this ... "with this whole Martha Burk thing going, it seems like there's been so much deflected attention for you going for three jackets in-a-row. Is it taking some of the pressure off you?"