Tiger Woods began what figured to be a triumphal march to his first U.S. Open title as he teed off at Pebble Beach this evening for the final round of the 100th championship with a record 10-stroke lead. Using an iron at the 381-yard par-4 first, Woods ripped his tee shot down the middle of the fairway, put his approach on the green and narrowly missed a 10-foot birdie putt to begin his round. The 24-year-old Woods was poised to claim a third major championship to add to his 1997 runaway victory at the Masters and his PGA Championship win last August.
A distant second was two-time Open champion Ernie Els, the only player to outshoot Woods in Saturday's windy third round, when he posted a three-under 68 to Woods's level-par 71. Woods rarely squanders any Sunday lead, let alone one in double digits. The world number one, the all-time leading money winner in the history of the U.S. PGA Tour, has won 14 of the last 15 official tournaments he has led going into the final round. Early conditions on Sunday were gentler than on Saturday, when whipping winds and rock-hard greens led to an average score exceeding 77 on the layout that is being played as a par 71.
Richard Zokol of Canada went out in five-under 30 to tie the front nine record for an Open at Pebble Beach shared by George Burns (1982) and Andy Dillard (1992). The Canadian posted 39 on the back half to finish with a two-under 69 for a 13-over-par 297 total. Three-time Open champion Hale Irwin also posted a 69 to finish at 296. Many other players were under par for the day in the early going in calm, muggy weather, including Masters champion Vijay Singh, David Duval and Nick Faldo.
Faldo was two-under for the day through five holes to move up to a tie for sixth place - 12 strokes behind Woods. Woods, who set records for the biggest lead after 36 holes (six strokes) and the biggest advantage after 54 (10 strokes), was within range of two other significant Open scoring records. The record 11-shot margin of victory enjoyed by Willie Smith in 1899 was in jeopardy, and a 67 by Woods would enable him to equal the record-low total in Open history of 272 shared by Jack Nicklaus (1980) and Lee Janzen (1993), both set at Baltusrol.
