There was some discussion about Tiger Woods’ mood after his second-round 72 Friday, a round that could have been so much more and wasn’t.
Several sportswriters saw outright fury in Woods’ face, but that seemed too obvious, too easy. I thought he was somewhere between the Michael Corleone-to-Fredo-Corleone-you’re-nothing-to-me-now coldness and the kid who believes he has been wronged by an adult world that someday will come to its senses and realize its terrible injustice.
He bogeyed No. 18 Friday, which helped lead to his stoniness. He answered three questions with “Yeah” and one with “Yeah, you might say that.” If he had thrown in a “Make me,” few of us would have been surprised.
He clearly was not a happy person, and we can all agree on that.
Most people of sound mind would agree Woods is not out of the Masters, despite the fact that he trails Chad Campbell and Kenny Perry by seven strokes. They each are 9 under par.
Woods said he believes he can erase the deficit, and if he believes it, that’s probably all that matters. But it also helps that other golfers believe it too.
“On this golf course, I think for sure it’s doable,” said Jeev Milkha Singh, who played with Woods in the first two rounds. “The wind picks up the back nine, it’s a different ballgame. He hasn’t made too many putts in the first two days.”
And if he starts rolling in some putts, well, you know what can happen. Woods was six strokes back after the first two rounds of the 2005 Masters and won. He made up those six with a third-round 65.
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He never has been seven strokes behind in a major and won. He is not playing particularly well, which is why he said he wasn’t thinking about the seven-stroke deficit. He was thinking about fixing things. But count him out at your peril.
“I wouldn’t be too concerned if I was Tiger, either,” said Anthony Kim, who is five strokes off the lead. “He has come back from some pretty big deficits.”
It was a blah day for Woods watchers. And maybe because of it, the Masters so far has been a bit of a shrug. The tournament has a feel of restless anticipation to it, as if people are impatiently drumming their fingers on a table, waiting for something to happen.
Questions about the size of a deficit normally are reserved for Woods and a few others. That’s because very few golfers have the ability to shrink that sort of lead.
How far away is too far away for Tiger? Who knows? Maybe he’s playing with his food because he’s bored.
“You have to play smart,” he said. “Birdies can be had if you time the wind correctly and hit a good shot, but still, you have to be smart about it.”
Some of Woods’ woundedness Friday was self-inflicted, and some of it was wind-induced.
“It was pretty much difficult all the way around,” Woods said. “Not only is it blowing, but it’s also changing whether it’s in or down, so you can go through pretty much a three-club swing.”
On the par-three 12th hole, Fred Couples, Rocco Mediate and Jack Newman all hit the ball in Rae’s Creek — and they were in the same threesome. Tough day. Then again, how to explain Kim’s Masters-record 11 birdies in the second round?
Saturday’s weather is supposed to be mostly sunny with a high of 76. Woods is one of those positive-thought guys, and no matter what the conditions are, he will believe those are the conditions that perfectly suit his game. Who wants to argue with him?
Not only is his cup always half-full, it has his golf ball in it.
Woods has given no indication his reconstructed knee has made him vulnerable on Augusta’s rolling fairways. But this is not someone who wants you to see weakness in him. This was the guy who won last year’s U.S. Open with a double stress fracture in his left leg and a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. He winced his way through that. But surrender? No.
He has his work cut out for him. Perry pronounced himself relaxed. Maybe it’s a result of being 48 and having seen a lot. But he’s loose and unfazed about where he sits.
“Everything is just going great,” Perry said. “I understand what I’m trying to do, what I’m trying to accomplish. Can I? I think I can. I really believe I can win this tournament. Will I? I don’t know.”
Based on Woods’ track record, it would be silly to state he won’t have a say in how this tournament is decided. There are 17 golfers ahead of him on the leaderboard. That’s a lot of ground to cover.
He’s a lot of golfer.
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Tiger’s day
A three-birdie, three-bogey 72 left Woods seven shots behind co-leaders Chad Campbell and Kenny Perry. Tied for 19th, Woods is aiming to become the first Masters champion since Jack Nicklaus in 1986 to rally from outside the top 10 after 36 holes.
Saturday’s tee time: 12:05 p.m., with Graeme McDowell
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On the Internet
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Follow Tiger with Teddy Greenstein each day with his live blog at chicagotribune.com/masters