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♦ SATURDAY, JUNE 17, 2006
Miracle Mets
The Warner Robins Recreation Department continued postseason play with the crowning of a couple more cham
pions Thursday at Memorial. In the Midget girls championship, the Mets beat the Storm 8-0. In the Junior/Senior
girls championship game, the Lady Panthers from Perry beat the Outlaws 18-8. Other scores from Thursday and
earlier this week are: Timber Rattlers from Robins Air Force Base 14, Braves 3 and Marlins 16, Mets 11 in Mite
boys; Braves 13, Rockhounds of RAFB 2 and Perry Panthers 9, Muckdogs 7 in Midget boys; Braves 10, Tigers 8 in
Mite girls (Monday); Mets 11, Panthers 2 in Midget girls; Outlaws 22, Sidewinders of RAFB 19 in Junior/Senior girls;
Peaches 13, Marlins 3 and Peaches 14, Braves 5 (championship game) in Mite girls; Storm 16, Comets 13 in Midget
girls; and Perry Lady Panthers 16, Diamonds 1 in Junior/Senior girls.
Photos by Don Moncrief
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The /Wefs cheer as their team name is called out as champions.
Tiger off lo rough start to life without Earl
By JIM UTKE
AP Sports Columnist
MAMARONECK, NY.
- He walked by himself a lot,
muttered under his breath a
little and couldn’t play a lick.
Whether any or all of it had
to do with the loss of a father
who shaped his swing from
the beginning, Tiger Woods
wouldn’t or couldn’t say.
“I understand the situation
where everyone is looking for
me to be more emotional,”
he said. “Right now I’m just
focusing, just trying to get
the ball in the hole.”
That being so, Woods sure
went about it in a funny way.
He shot 76, the same number
the rest of the field averaged
on a day when so many golf
ers spent so much time wad
ing through the tall grass at
Winged Foot that the place
looked more like an Easter
egg hunt than a golf course.
And Woods certainly contrib
uted his share of eggs.
He hit just three of 14 fair
ways, depositing tee shots in
the rough on both sides, then
hit just 10 of 18 greens, and
once there, he still needed
33 putts to get off. Coming
on the heels of a tournament
layoff stretched over nine
weeks, it was Woods’ worst
first round ever as a pro at a
U.S. Open, by two strokes.
“I expected to be on the
rusty side, but I really felt
good,” he said. “I started off
swinging well. The thing that
got my round off to a bad
start was not adjusting to the
greens. And once I did that,
I was fine. But I was so far
behind.”
Bad putting is always
Woods’ go-to alibi whenever
he plays poorly, and there’s
always some truth in it - but
only up to a point.
Even at this stage of his
career, people are surprised
to learn that Woods’ consum
ing competitive fires were a
gift from his mother, Kultida.
His limitless imagination, on
the other hand, was a gift
from his father, Earl, a Green
Beret who toughened his kid
up plenty, but always made
Tiger find his own way out
of trouble.
Earl named his son Eldrick
but called him Tiger almost
from birth to honor a friend
and fellow soldier he got
separated from late in his
second tour of Vietnam.
Earl shared a foxhole with a
Republic of Vietnam colonel
named Nguyen Phong and
so admired his courage and
ferocity that he nicknamed
him Tiger. He reckoned his
friend might find him one
day by connecting the names
“Tiger” and “Woods.”
They never were reunit
ed, but Earl didn’t regret
the choice of names. His son
wore the moniker with pride,
and every time little Tiger
hit the ball wildly - and as
a youngster, that was often
- he learned to make one
fearless recovery shot after
another.
“I used to tell him he was
aptly named,” Earl recalled
a few years ago, “because he
was always in the woods. He
would say, ‘Yeah, Pop, but I
can get out.’”
On this day, Tiger got
out again, rifling that 9-
iron - think about that for
a moment - high into the
sky, over the left edge of the
second tent, then bending it
back all the way into the
grandstand behind the ninth
green.
Tiger got a drop without
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penalty at a pre-marked spot
just in front of the grand
stand and behind the green
- that was his plan all along
- and was left with a flop
wedge and a chance to put it
close enough to save par.
On another day, the story
might have a happier end
ing. Just as he had at No. 6,
though, Woods hit the wedge
too far past the hole. He got
his chip close enough to roll
in the bogey putt for a front
nine 40, saw the number next
to his name on his score
board climb from 4-over-par
to five and set off to see what
he could do on the back. He
knocked off four strokes,
good enough to tie the field
and maybe just enough to
climb back into this thing.
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Afterward, someone point
ed out that both Ben Hogan
and Jack Fleck shot 76 in the
opening round of the U.S.
Open and still won.
“Are you close enough to
win this?” a reporter asked
Woods. You could almost
imagine Earl whispering in
Tiger’s ear long ago, father
reminding son to always
dream big.
“It’s been done before,”
Tiger said, his smile widen
ing, “hasn’t it?”
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Storm aacond baseman Ashley Mufffgan catches a pop
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Storm
runner
Samantha
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moves to
second on
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ball as
Mets
second
baseman
Jessica
Colson
covers
the bag.