St. Andrews, Scotland – Remember the famously loud scene in the movie “Braveheart” in which the natives scream bloody murder from atop a hill?
Substitute 6-irons for spears; that was pretty much the third round of the British Open.
And Tiger Woods played the role of the bad guy at the Saturday matinee.
To hold his ground, to say nothing of preserving a two-stroke advantage atop the leaderboard, Woods had to fight off the spirit of William Wallace, the tournament’s first testy wind conditions and an entire nation of Scotsmen who wailed as if prickly gorse was stuck under their kilts.
“Go on, Monty!” a gallery member shouted, encouraging native son Colin Montgomerie at No. 14 of the Old Course. “Go on, Scotland!”
Road Hole? Paired in the final twosome with Montgomerie, Woods played 18 of them. A visitor in the unfriendly confines.
“I expected it. It should be that way. He’s never won a major championship, and this is the home of golf,” Woods said, after scrambling for a 71 that put him 12-under par, three stout shots ahead of Montgomerie.
Jose Maria Olazabal of Spain stands in second place, two behind Woods. An all-world cast, including Retief Goosen, Sergio Garcia and Vijay Singh, remain within arm’s reach of the Claret Jug awarded to the winner.
Wherever the sun shined, the flag of Scotland waved in the hands of boisterous locals.
All Montgomerie required to hear thunderous applause was to take two steps forward. It was a wee bit nuts.
Think Yankees at Red Sox, except with the fanatics fueled by better beer.
“There were about 15 grandstands out there, and it was a standing ovation on every one of them,” Montgomerie said.
When Woods bounced an approach shot over a 16th green harder than the four-century-old tombstones in the St. Andrews cemetery, fans openly rooted for a bunker to swallow the errant ball, then cheered when it instead trickled into the rough.
As Montgomerie lined up a putt, the only sound heard was the country’s whispered prayers.
“It’s so exciting and so lovely to feel the warmth of support, I suppose, from a whole nation,” said Montgomerie, who signed for a 70 on his scorecard. “Golf is our national sport here. It might not be in your country, but you have the three major sports. But golf is, in this country, our national sport, really.”
Not only was Woods lucky to survive two unplayable lies when tee shots disappeared under native brushes pricklier than the Queen after a lousy night’s sleep, the U.S. visitor was genuinely thankful for gracious applause when he did hit the fairway.
Knock Woods, and this Tiger bites back, as evidenced by his reaction to saving par with a gutsy 12-foot putt late in the round, when he went well beyond his trademark celebratory uppercut and demonstratively slammed forward his right arm like Nike teammate LeBron James throwing down a dunk.
Unlike the Tour de France, where Texan Lance Armstrong has been cursed at and doused with brew in the past, the Scots probably are too polite to bring real anger to a sports rivalry.
In fact, being from the United Kingdom means always having to say you’re sorry.
The Scots use “sorry” in place of “excuse me.” They’re sorry for the hair-mussing wind.
Very sorry for the lack of ice in your lukewarm soda.
“Sorry,” Montgomerie respectfully asked an American journalist whose fat skull cast a late-afternoon shadow too close to the spot where the Glasgow native placed his ball on the tee at No. 17. “Move your head, please. Move this head casting a shadow.
“Please, sir.”
So, properly embarrassed, I moved.
Nonetheless, Montgomerie bogeyed the hole.
He needed a 35-foot birdie putt on the 18th that politely tiptoed to the edge of the cup and was gently nudged in the hole by national pride to get a stroke back.
The small miracle put him in a proper state of mind to wrestle Tiger during the final round. Montgomerie went to sleep Saturday night with the dreams of every golfer in Scotland.
“There’s no more pressure they put on me,” he said. “They’re only helping me.”
British Open
LEADERS
Tiger Woods 66-67-71-204
Jose Maria Olazabal 68-70-68-206
Retief Goosen 68-73-66-207
Colin Montgomerie 71-66-70-207
Sergio Garcia 70-69-69-208
Brad Faxon 72-66-70-208
NOTABLES
Michael Campbell 69-72-68-209
Vijay Singh 69-69-71-209
John Daly 71-69-70-210
Greg Norman 72-71-70-213
Nick Faldo 74-69-70-213
Phil Mickelson 74-67-72-213
Tom Watson 75-70-70-215
Ernie Els 74-67-75-216
Staff writer Mark Kiszla can be reached at 303-820-5438 or mkiszla@denverpost.com.
