Friday, September 11, 2009 at 2:04PM
Writing from Lemont, Ill.
Friday, September 11, 2009
As rivals to Tiger Woods go, Mark Wilson's name doesn't automatically jump to the top of the list.
It's Phil Mickelson and Ernie Els, David Duval and Padraig Harrington who are thought of, and with good reason. They have battled Woods down the stretch at majors and other tournaments across the world over the last decade-plus, some with more success than others.
Wilson, a native of Menomonee Falls, Wis., who now calls Elmhurst home, was one of the first players to challenge Woods for a major golf laurel. Page through the USGA's record book, and eventually you'll find the results of the 1992 U.S. Junior Amateur, played at Wollaston Golf Club in Milton, Mass. It was there, in the final, that Woods erased a 2-down deficit with five holes to play to claim the second of his record three straight Junior Am titles.
The kid the 16-year-old Woods defeated? Seventeen-year-old Mark Wilson.
Now, at least for a day, they are united again. Wilson and Woods share the lead after 36 holes of the 106th Western Open – or, as the sponsors like to put it, the BMW Championship. Wilson scored 5-under-par 66, Woods a nearly-as-natty 67, to arrive at matching aggregates of 7-under-par 135 at the halfway point on Cog Hill Golf & Country Club's toughened Dubsdread course.
The quartet immediately behind the two big Ws are not to be dismissed. Padraig Harrington would be right there with Woods and Wilson had he not besmirched his scorecard with his first bogey of the week on the last hole of the day. Instead, he's at 6-under 136 after a second straight 3-under 68, in a foursome with first round co-leader Rory Sabbatini, Bo Van Pelt, and Marc Leishman, the young challenger from the Australian outback.
A fine cast follows – including Zach Johnson, whose 6-under 65 matched the round of the day and moved him into a tie for eighth, at 4-under 138 – but the focus at 12:45 p.m. Saturday will be on the first tee, when and where Wilson and Woods will get reacquainted.
"We go back a long way," Woods said. "I think I won every other hole coming in (in the Junior Am). He went to North Carolina, and we played each other in college (when Woods was at Stanford). Then I came out here."
His presence "out here," which is to say on the professional circuit, has been noticed. All Woods has done is win 14 professional majors – 17 overall when his three U.S. Amateurs is considered, putting him three back of Jack Nicklaus' 20 – and 70 PGA Tour tournaments overall, along with enough money to bail out California.
Wilson? He has two Tour wins, including this year's Mayakoba Classic in Mexico, which was played the same week as the World Match Play, the old Tucson Open. That's why you probably haven't heard of it. He's played in three majors as a pro and hasn't made the cut.
Woods went about his business carefully on Friday, bogeying the first hole, but recording five birdies thereafter, including three straight beginning at the par-4 seventh.
"It was a golf course you had to be very patient on," Woods said. "I had a few opportunities to make bogey, but made par saves. This was a hard golf course to shoot a low number on, given the pin locations. Tomorrow, it looks like there will be more accessible pins."
Woods' best birdie was his first, a 13-footer for a 3 on the par-4 seventh. He then converted an approach to 5 feet on the par-4 eighth and got up and down, so to speak, for a bird on the par-5 ninth thanks to a pitch to 18 inches from 35 yards out.
For Woods, this is close to routine stuff, but those in the gallery of about 25,000 who traipsed along in glorious weather to watch him, Steve Stricker and Heath Slocum negotiate a course that measured 7,401 yards on Friday were dazzled by the show. That's also routine.
Wilson's gallery was smaller, but no less appreciative. For one thing, there's family tagging along. It numbered about 15 on Friday, including his mom and dad, who are staying with him this week.
"There were a lot of people saying, 'Go Elmhurst!' " Wilson said. "We tried to take care of the ticket requests early in the week. John Kaczkowski (of the Western Golf Association) was great, and mailed us a ticket package. My people are in my corner and coming out to cheer."
But, Wilson noted, "The multitudes are still chasing Tiger."
Wilson birdied all three par-5s, including the ninth, sinking a devilish double-breaking putt of 20 feet to conclude his round.
"The greens are rolling good, and that's the reason for the low score," said Wilson, who plays out of Cog Hill. The familiarity he has with the redesigned Dubsdread – he had played it several times when at home before this week's Western – hasn't hurt either.
"Frank Jemsek has been great to be," Wilson said of Cog Hill's owner. "He lets me play and practice. I'll either play at 6 in the morning, before the first tee time, or at 4 in the afternoon. Then, I'll usually play 9 holes or until I catch up with the last group."
There may also be a Wisconsin thing going on. After all, Stricker and Jerry Kelly, fellow Wisconsinites, have won on Cog Hill. Is this Wilson's turn?
"I've kept that in the back of my mind," Wilson said.
Closer to the front might be this: Woods has won four times on Dubsdread, triumphing in 1997, 1999, 2003 and 2007. He's taken six titles in the Chicago area, counting PGA Championships at Medinah Country Club in 1999 and 2006. That's six out of his 70 Tour titles. Seven of 71 isn't out of the question.
– Tim Cronin
