Five shots could be same as one on Sunday at Sawgrass
By Melanie Hauser, PGATOUR.COM Contributor
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- He's about to go where no one's gone before.
To the first tee Sunday afternoon at THE PLAYERS up by a par-5 with 18 to play.
And trust us. Alex Cejka will need every one of those shots. Maybe more.
Nothing against the man who swam across the Rhine to freedom when he was nine. He hung in there like a pit bull -- his analogy -- in the third round. He played a hell of a shot into the 18th hole at the Stadium Course and dropped the putt for birdie. He stretched a two-shot lead after 36 into five after 54.
Now comes the hard part.
And we're not just talking about the swirl of insanity that comes with playing in the final group with the best player in the world.
We're talking about facing a Tiger Woods who plodded along with the rest of the pack until he found an opening, birdied 16 and 17 and ... got us wondering whether he will win his second PLAYERS with smoke, mirrors, shots through the trees and off pine needles backhanded and his -- we'll be charitable -- B game.
Tigers loves this. Thrives on it. He doesn't love this course, but he loves the challenge. Wonder if he can win missing fairways? Shake your head because he's only got one win here and one top 10 since then? Or that he shot to the top because the wall ahead of him imploded? Question whether five shots might be too much on a hard, fast course where disasters usually outnumber miracles?
Might as wave a red flag when the bulls are running in the streets of Pamplona.
And cue the final round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March.
Yes, that's just one hurdle for Cejka, who dealt with Saturday's pressure by chomping on gum. Every hole. Every shot. Every round for that matter.
The others?
How much time have you got?
Cejka didn't even know if he was going to play here. The pinched nerve in his neck was still bothering him, and he needed another epidural just to take the pain away -- and put the feeling back in his fingers -- so he could swing. He was qualified, mind you, because he was 117th on last year's money list. But he's yet to win a PGA TOUR event. Yes, he has 11 international wins, but none since 2002. And, he's ranked 267th and has never stared down the 17th with Waterford Crystal and a five-year exemption on the line.
He has been paired with Tiger just twice -- once in an exhibition, the other at the 1996 Open Championship at Royal Lytham and St. Anne's when Tiger was still an amateur. Cejka shot 67; Tiger shot 70.
And, no, Cejka doesn't remember much about it.
"I don't remember what I had for dinner last night,'' he said with a grin.
What he does know is Woods isn't the only player he has to worry about. Yes, he can throw out pars, mind you, and make them throw out birdies, but if it were only that simple.
If Woods stumbles, he can't forget there's a wave of players with him at 6 under. Two-time U.S. Open champ Retief Goosen. A pair of match play stars and majors-in-waiting in Henrik Stenson and Ian Poulter. Jonathan Byrd, who stumbled on the front Saturday, and Ben Crane, who birdied two of the last three.
"He's going to be having dinner tonight thinking 11 under par should be good enough,'' Poulter said. "And if you go out there with that mindset, it's going to be difficult.''
Maybe impossible.
The Stadium Course was tough Saturday, but Sunday it could turn brutal. More heat and wind. Who knows how much -- if much at all -- water they'll sprinkle on the greens.
And then there's the pressure. This isn't a major, merely the best field in golf. And the one tournament -- other than the four majors -- every player wants to win.
There's no predicting how this one will play out. There seldom is.
Could you have seen Hal Sutton beating Tiger? Or Craig Perks coming out of no where? Or ... You get the picture.
How many times has this event been won or lost at 17? Or 18? Or with a wild lead change on the front nine.
Ironically, Cejka plans to wear a red shirt and black pants -- the same combination Tiger wears every final round. No significance. Just a choice.
Five shots? Saturday night it seemed not insurmountable, but comfortable, bordering on huge. When Cejka walks to the tee Sunday afternoon, we guarantee it won't.
"I've played a lot with (Tiger), and I'm sure he's going to come firing on all cylinders tomorrow like he always does on Sunday when he has a chance to win,'' Stenson said.
"The key is just to stick to your own game, and hopefully play better than he does."
And if he can manage that? One hurdle down ... a few more to go.
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