Tiger's Streak Nearing an End at Doral?

[March 24, 2008]  DORAL, Fla. (AP) -- Tiger Woods' unbeaten streak lives another day. Barring a big comeback, it'll live for only one more day. Geoff Ogilvy got to 17 under through nine holes and held a two-shot lead over Jim Furyk and Vijay Singh at the soggy CA Championship, which won't finish until Monday because of a three-hour weather delay during the final round.

Furyk was 15 under through 10, while Singh played nine holes. Retief Goosen and Graeme Storm were three shots back and Steve Stricker made a huge charge, shooting a final-round 63 to finish at 13 under, four shots back of Ogilvy and tied with Adam Scott.

Play was scheduled to resume Monday at 8:30 a.m., when most intrigue will be pointed toward Woods -- who was five back with seven holes remaining.

"In his own mind, he probably still thinks he has a chance, and I'm sure we've seen him to do crazy things before," Ogilvy said. "But Jim and Vijay have won a fair few tournaments and Adam's won a fair few tournaments. ... He doesn't have to only catch me."

World Golf Championship events are some of Woods' favorites, given his 15 wins in 26 previous WGCs entering this week. But somehow, at Doral, he's looked mortal. He hasn't lost to anyone in six months, yet when play was halted, he was tied for ninth.

Ogilvy's last win was the 2006 U.S. Open. Woods missed the cut that summer at Winged Foot and has been on an absolute tear ever since, winning 16 of his last 26 official PGA Tour events and carrying winning streaks of seven straight appearances worldwide and five tournaments on tour into at Doral, a track where he's prevailed each of the past three years.

Unless he pulls off a stirring comeback, all those streaks will end, meaning he'll be a winner in only nine of his past 11 events worldwide heading into the Masters.

For anyone else, that's a superhuman clip. For Woods, it's become practically expected.

Ogilvy's bogey-free streak for the week ended after 60 holes, when he left a 35-foot par putt short on the seventh hole. He was forced to scramble at times and said he was exhausted after the long day, but he's still in the best position entering Monday.

"It's a good leaderboard," Ogilvy said. "That's what the whole point of these golf tournaments was, I guess, to get fields like this, get everyone playing each other. I guess the idea is to have everyone have a chance with nine holes to play or 18 holes to play."

If Woods has a chance, it's a slim one, because up-and-down trends plagued him all weekend.

Woods' chances took a serious hit in the third round, when every other contender seemed to go on birdie sprees while he remained stuck in the Doral mud. Singh and Storm shot 63s, Goosen and Furyk had 64s, while Woods could only manage a third-round 72.

He gave the omnipresent throng of fans who followed him in the gallery much hope when he opened the final round with two birdies.

But he followed those with consecutive bogeys, one before the weather delay, one after at the long par-3 fourth hole. At that point, he trailed Ogilvy by six, and was a decidedly un-Tigerlike even par over his past 25 holes.

It sure didn't look like much of a tuneup for Augusta National.

Furyk opened his final round with a birdie, but two straight bogeys after that threatened to knock him out of contention. He rallied nicely, though, putting together four consecutive birdies later on the front side, giving him 13 birdies in a 26-hole stretch.

"If I want to win the golf tournament," Furyk said, "I'm going to have to make a bunch of birdies again tomorrow."

Third-round play was suspended Saturday after 3 inches of rain fell in a three-hour stretch of the afternoon, and the final round didn't begin until shortly before noon Sunday. Final-round play was suspended for three hours because of lightning threats. By the time play resumed, there was only about 2 hours of daylight remaining, nowhere near enough time for everyone to finish.

"Still a lot of golf to go," Singh said. "Just hung in there."

Players had about a 2 1/2-hour break before starting the final round Sunday, and with more storms in the forecast, some wondered why they weren't on the course earlier.

"I think we were all asking the same question, exactly," Furyk said. "I don't know. It seems as though that would have been the safest way."

Instead, 53 of the remaining 77 players will finish Monday, when Woods will need a huge charge.

"It can be had," Woods said.

Notes: Aaron Baddeley made six straight birdies on the front nine and closed with a 66. ... Soren Kjeldsen of Denmark had two eagles in the first eight holes of his final round; he made 3s on the par-5 first and eighth holes, needing only a combined 14 feet of putts. He was able to finish the final round and catch his scheduled Sunday night flight to London. ... Reigning U.S. Open champion Angel Cabrera withdrew during the delay Sunday because of an undisclosed illness. He was 21 shots off the lead at the time. ... Rory Sabbatini played his opening nine final-round holes in 8-over 44, giving back all those shots in a five-hole span.

[Associated Press; By TIM REYNOLDS]

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.