A growing sense of inevitability simmered in the sizzling sun at Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club on Friday as Tiger Woods moved relentlessly toward his third consecutive U.S. Amateur title.
The question of whether Woods will win is becoming more and more like asking if he will turn professional. Everyone knows the answer. It's all just a matter of time.For the fourth straight match, Woods toyed with an opponent early then put the hammer down on the holes that bridge the two nines.
The victim in the quarterfinals was D.A. Points, a 19-year-old LSU student. Points was only 1-down after Woods lost his ball in the woods on No. 7. But Woods birdied Nos. 9 and 12, hitting to six feet both times, to go 3-up and closed the match out on No. 16, winning 3-and-2.
Woods is two victories away from becoming the first player to win three consecutive amateur titles - Saturday's semifinals and Sunday's 36-hole final.
Woods plays Stanford teammate Joel Kribel in the semifinals. Kribel was 1-down after Duke Delcher holed out from the fairway for an eagle on No. 17. But Kribel eagled No. 18 to even the match and won on the first sudden-death hole with a birdie.
The other bracket also has teammates squaring off. Robert Floyd, son of Raymond, advanced with a 2-up victory over Brian Novoa. And Steve Scott defeated Buddy Marucci, the man Woods beat in last year's finals, 1-up by winning the last hole in the other quarterfinal match.
Floyd and Scott both play for the University of Florida.
World Series of Golf
AKRON, Ohio - Heavy rain and lightning suspended Friday's second round of the World Series of Golf with most of the field still on the course.
Defending champion Greg Norman, starting the day four shots off the pace, birdied four of the first six holes to jump into contention before the elements ended his round on No. 9.
Paul Goydos and Billy Mayfair, the first-round co-leaders along with Hidemichi Tanaka, each had a birdie and a par on their two holes to move to five under and share the lead.
Norman, one shot back along with Tanaka, said the suspension - after an earlier stoppage of more than 31/2 hours - wouldn't affect his momentum.
"I'll come out tomorrow, hit it in the middle of the ninth green, make a birdie and keep going," he said.
It was the third straight week that a PGA Tour event has had a round suspended by inclement weather, following the PGA Championship and last week's International.
All but five players in the 43-man field were still on the course when play was suspended. Play will resume Saturday morning for those 38 players, with the third round beginning immediately after completion of the second round.
Lightning, high winds and heavy rain had caused a 3 hour, 39 minute suspension earlier Friday.
Star Bank LPGA Classic
DAYTON, Ohio - Pat Hurst shot a 5-under-par 67 Friday and held a one-stroke lead over six players after the rain-delayed first round of the Star Bank LPGA Classic.
Hurst was unaware of how she stacked up with the leaders as she was coming in because the people working the scoreboards at the Country Club of the North in suburban Beavercreek were sent home during a two-hour rain delay.
The group at 68 included Nancy Lopez, Elaine Crosby, Laura Davies, Kelly Robbins, Robin Walton and Marianne Morris.
The rain seemed to have helped Hurst, the tour's rookie of the year in 1995.
After the delay she birdied four of five holes.
Bank of Boston Senior PGA Classic
CONCORD, Mass. - Defending champion Isao Aoki, who offset an opening bogey with five front-nine birdies, and Larry Ziegler, who birdied his last two holes, shot 67s Friday and were tied for the first-round lead of the $800,000 Bank of Boston Senior PGA Classic.
Raymond Floyd, Frank Conner, Ben Smith and Tom Wargo each had 4-under 68s on the 6,775-yard Nashawtuc Country Club course and there was a 10-way jam at 69.
Aoki, who has won two of six career Senior PGA Tour this year, bogeyed the opening par-3 before making birdies on five of the next eight holes and requiring just 12 putts on the front nine. He had another two birdies around a bogey on the first four holes after the turn before parring in.
Ziegler, winner of nearly $1.4 million on the senior tour since 1989, made a 15-footer for birdie on 17 and followed that with a 12-footer for birdie on 18.
Lee Trevino, the tour's leading money winner with earnings of nearly $6.5 million, finished with a 72. Chi Chi Rodriguez, winner of three consecutive events here from 1986-88, faltered with a 75.
German Open
STUTTGART, Germany - Ian Woosnam, seeking to climb to the top of the European money list, fired his second straight 7-under-par 64 Friday and took a one-stroke lead in the German Open.
Woosnam, who started the day two stroke off the pacer, birdied seven of the last 10 holes.
His nearest rival was Robert Karlsson of Sweden, who needed only 28 shots for his last nine holes and equaled the course record with a 62.
Greater Vancouver Open
SURREY, British Columbia - Lee Janzen, Taylor Smith and Guy Boros shot 6-under-par 65s on Friday and joined Emlyn Aubrey and Jeff Maggert atop the leaderboard midway through the Greater Vancouver Open.
Aubrey and Maggert each shot 68s over the 6,817-yard Northview Golf and Country Club course to join the leading group at 6-under 136.
Aubrey was leading at 8-under when he put a shot into the water at No. 14 and bogeyed out of the rough at No. 16.
Janzen led at 7-under only to bogey after finding a bunker with his approach to No. 16.
"I don't think it's going to change unless we get a big rainstorm," Janzen said of the hard, slick greens that made every putt an adventure. "The greens were about the same as they were yesterday."
Boros, who played four years on the Canadian pro tour before qualifying for the PGA Tour in 1993, had eight birdies in grabbing a share of first.