Tiger Woods Dodges Rain and Wind, OB and Graeme McDowell


We don’t want to say Tiger Woods is famous, but a small group of people ran into a backyard to take a photo of themselves next to a golf ball Woods hit out-of-bounds from the 15th tee. Then a girl limped up on crutches, ready for her photo op with "the ball." It wasn’t exactly a "Jesus on your grilled cheese sandwich" moment, but it was close.

Unfortunately, that ball OB spelled a double bogey for Woods at the 15th, and it came just after a bogey at the par-three 14th, where he blasted out of a plugged lie in the greenside bunker and overshot the green.

"The only bad shot I hit there was at 14," Woods explained.

What happened at the 15th was unusual. A noise in the gallery cause him to try to stop in his downswing on the 15th tee, so he didn’t count it as a bad shot.

“There was an 18-year-old kid that passed out right at the concession stand (between the 14th green and 15th tee),” Woods said about the commotion.  A woman yelped when the young man fell. “It happened to be right in mid-way on my downswing,” he added. “I tried to stop it but I passed the point of no return.”

The result was a ball out-of-bounds left. At the end of the day, that meant a one-shot lead instead of a two- or three-shot lead.  

Meanwhile, gritty Graeme McDowell showed again why he became a US Open champ at Pebble Beach. He just refused to go away and birdied the 17th to pull within one of the lead.   

"The golf course is going to be the main competitor tomorrow," McDowell said when asked about the challenge of playing alongside Woods. "I’ve played enough with Tiger to know what’s going on within the ropes playing with him."

Several cited the recent history with McDowell beating Woods at Chevron. While McDowell is one of few who have beaten Woods head-to-head, he understands the challenge of taking on Woods at a course where Woods has six victories.

"I guess through 15 holes is a time to come up for air and just see where you’re at, because 16 is a chance to take a pin on and maybe make eagle," McDowell added about his strategy for Sunday.

He was assuming he would not have problems through the first 15 holes. But since the lowest round Saturday belonged to Ernie Els with a 67, it may be difficult for anyone to surprise and shoot low, including the leaders. "It really is fairways and greens and try to get into more of a groove with the putter than I did today," McDowell predicted about Sunday.  

Els bounced back from his disappointment at Tampa and posted the low round of the day. He said he had hope again even if he does not have an invitation to the Masters.   

"The last 18 months have been really difficult," he said. "I have to really dig deep just to stay in the game, and now I’m really feeling like I’m coming around again." 

Bubba Watson, who was fourth halfway through the round, fell off the leaderboard in spectacular style with a double at the 11th.  However, the golf gods gave him something back when his shot to the green at 18 hit the rocks, bounced high into the air, landed on the green and rolled to safety. Then he made the putt for birdie. Golf is a funny game.

Will Woods pick up a seventh title at Bay Hill, or will McDowell or Els or Woods’ own game get in the way? 

As McDowell said,

"

It’s fun to have him back. We want to win the biggest events and we want to win majors with him in the field because he’s going to be possibly the greatest of all time if not the greatest of all time. It’s going to be fun for us to look back on our careers when we’ve had big wins over him.

"

Leaders tee off just before 2 p.m. Sunday. Find a TV set. Tiger Part II is about to begin.

Kathy Bissell is a Golf Writer for Bleacher Report. Unless otherwise noted, all quotes were obtained first-hand or from official interview materials from the USGA, PGA Tour or PGA of America.