BETHESDA - -The assumption, at about noon Friday, was that Tiger Woods would head to the clubhouse at Congressional Country Club with the lead in the AT&T National, and that later in the afternoon Anthony Kim would match - and perhaps surpass - the number Woods posted. That would set up a fireworks-filled weekend at the tournament Woods hosts, with golf's leading man and a swaggering Tiger wannabe staring each other down come sunset Sunday.
"If that happens, it happens," Woods said after his sometimes ragged but still impressive 66 that got him to 10-under-par 130 through two rounds, firmly in the lead. It was hardly a dismissive assessment because Woods knows Kim's enormous ability. But as Woods also likes to say, "This is golf." Kim is 24. He is emotional by nature. He has not won in a year. And hoping for a Sunday stare-down on a Friday afternoon amounts to exactly that: hope.
So it was that Kim dragged himself from the Blue Course after an even-par 70 and said, simply, "It was a grind." Instead of seizing the lead and battling Woods in today's third round, he battled his own swing and his own emotions, and he now sits two back of the lead, with 39-year-old Australian Rod Pampling (64-131) wedged in between.
"Probably one of my toughest ball-striking days in a long time," Kim said. "Being only two back is a blessing after today."
So it is in that fashion - Woods' cold calculation and keep-it-together professionalism, combined with Kim's still-developing maturity - that Congressional produced a leader board that might portend a wonderful holiday weekend. There is Woods, who is quite happy with the notion of winning his own event. There is Kim, who won here a year ago and is thus adored. As playing partner Jim Furyk said, "We had a ton of people. 'AK' actually draws a pretty good crowd."
There is also Furyk, the 2003 U.S. Open champ who had a 67 and sits three back. Toss in current U.S. Open champ Lucas Glover (66-135) and U.S. Amateur champ Danny Lee (67-135), and there are plenty of intriguing names within five shots of the lead.
It is a lead, though, that is held by Woods, so the assumption that anyone will be involved in a Sunday showdown is just that: an assumption. Woods has previously led 37 times midway through a PGA Tour event. He has won 31 of those times. That is a statistic that just backs up the vibe the world's No. 1 player brings to an event.
