Tiger Woods grinds out even-par 72

ORLANDO, Fla. – His spot into the field at this year’s Arnold Palmer Invitational Presented by Mastercard is owed to his win here in 1996. That would be 1996 BT, he was told. Paul Goydos – 53 and still in possession of more all-world dry-humor than the next 25 guys combined – nodded his head and knew what the reporter meant. “Before Tiger,� he said. Yes, 22 Aprils ago, Woods was an amateur and not in the field at Bay Hill, so Goydos was left to deal with mere mortals. He prevailed, too, shooting 275 to edge Jeff Maggert by a shot. It was the first of his two PGA TOUR victories, but it was seven months later when Goydos started to sense that the PGA TOUR he had joined just three years earlier was changing. Woods had won his first tournament, the Las Vegas Invitational, where Goydos had finished joint eighth, but then at the event at Disneyworld, “I played behind him three days and I had never seen anything like it.� Woods won that one, too, then he won the Masters and three other tournaments in 1997 and, well, it was wild. “The crowds, the enthusiasm, the scene,� said Goydos. Now playing regularly on the PGA TOUR Champions, where he has won five times, Goydos still pays attention to the entire landscape and knows that Woods, 42, is seemingly rejuvenated and his healthiest since 2013. There have been young players who’ve talked about how great it is to have a healthy Woods in their presence that they always wished that they could have played against an in-primetime Woods. Goydos chuckles. “Be careful what you wish for,� he said. That’s because, “if he stays healthy, I don’t think these guys have a clue as to what’s coming.� If a ninth Woods victory at Bay Hill is coming, it will have to be from well off the 36-hole lead, because he struggled to an outward 38 and only heated up moderately. With birdies on the inward par 5s – Nos. 12 and 16 – Woods shot level-par 72 to get halfway home in 4-under, seven behind Henrik Stenson (64-69) and Bryson DeChambeau (67-66). He’s just inside the top 20, so there’s a healthy list of players he’ll need to pass, something that will require a lot more birdies than he’s made in two days (eight). Still, despite the lack of noise from his game, there was plenty of commotion from his followers as again, Woods owned the show. It’s a landscape Goydos knows very well. “He moves the needle like Muhammad Ali.� Goydos offered his perspective shortly after a second-round 74 left him at level-par 144, a whopping 11 off the lead, but inside the cut. A small victory for the former champion, who discovered the other day that one part of Woods’ repertoire doesn’t seem to have missed a step. The needle. “He’s sharp, very, very quick,� said Goydos, “and he isn’t afraid to give it.� As he walked across the putting green at Bay Hill, Goydos said Woods noticed him and they made small talk. Quick-witted, Goydos said he loved being out on the PGA TOUR “because where I hit it, there aren’t any divots,� but as he walked away he heard a voice call out. “Hey, Paul,� said Woods, “how many head covers you have these days?� It’s all part of the Woods’ aura, Goydos said, and he suggested that it’s slowly returning after a hiatus of a few years. “It’s his putting green, his driving range, his show,� said Goydos, and if players are starting to talk about how difficult it is to play alongside Woods, that part of the battle is returning to the icon’s side. “Wait till players get a piece of that deal,� said Goydos. “Tiger is used to it.� So quiet for so much of his Friday, Woods provided a little bit of the show-time sizzle that Goydos talked about. The birdies at 12 and 16 were ho-hum, because they ranked as the two easiest holes. But the par-save at the 14th, when his ball was buried beneath the lip of a greenside bunker? Vintage Woods, thanks to a 22-foot putt. The laser iron over the flagstick at the 209-yard, par-3 17th? Solid stuff, even if he did miss the 25-footer? But best of all was the one-two punch at the demanding 18th – a stinger driver that went 323 yards and a splendid approach that took the slope at the back of the green and trickled to 14 feet. Classy stuff when you consider the field average for proximity on the 18th was 42 feet. On this day, Woods’ birdie putt grazed the right edge, but he’s in contention. On a weekend. Again. Goydos lived, kids. “I mean, the guy’s never gotten up before noon on the weekend.�

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