Woods holds nerve to force play-off

It was agony for much of the day for Tiger Woods at Torrey Pines yesterday but in the end it turned to ecstasy as he sank a do-or-die 18-foot putt on the final green to force a play-off with Rocco Mediate in the 108th US Open Championship.

Woods had set the place alight on the back nine on Saturday with two outrageous eagle putts on the 13th and 18th and a chip in from thick rough at the 17th to move into a one-stroke lead over England’s Lee Westwood, with Mediate a further stroke back.

All the time, though, his dodgy left knee was acting up and the signs were ominous in the extreme when he ran up a double bogey at the very first hole of the final round.

He winced visibly and doubled up in pain on a number of occasions and for a time it looked as if he might retire altogether.

However, Woods is nothing if not a fighter and he hung in there until he was challenged by that all-important putt on the 18th.

Having just watched Westwood fail from a little further, he struck it beautifully and to his undiluted joy and that of his caddie Steve Williams, it dropped in the right hand side door.

“I knew it was exactly 2½ balls outside the hole and the most important thing was to hit a pure putt and I did that,” said Woods. “But it took forever to break and, man, was I glad to see it slide in the side.

“It looked for a while like I was playing myself out of the tournament. Three over after two wasn’t good. But I kept telling myself I could still get back to even par, there were still three par fives to come and I was positive.

As always, the big question mark hung over Tiger’s knee and again he tried to be non-committal simply stating: “It is what it is. No, it’s not any better than it was on Saturday but it’s just going to have to be good enough for one more day.”

Charlie Mulqueen - Torres Pines GC, San Diego

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