Tiger's putter has cooled since the 'old days'

FROM THE DAILY TELEGRAPH WEBSITE
By KEVIN GARSIDE at St Andrews
When this tournament is done Tiger Woods might yet have cause to celebrate.
He would prefer it if the Claret Jug was part of the story. While still possible, the lesser trophy he takes back to America is acceptance.
His appearance at St Andrews marks his first in Britain since the halo shattered. The pre-tournament press conference was still part inquisition, golf merely the pretext for further moral probing.
The galleries of the opening two days at The Open are not the teamed up boys of the weekend, who go after the amber nectar with good natured enthusiasm. Woods had enjoyed an easy ride.
This would be a stiffer test of Tiger’s standing, a barb count that would tell us if the disapproval dished up in the wake of the disclosures about his private life retained its potency in the raucous crucible of big Saturday.
Though he has not particularly excelled in the company of Darren Clarke he does like the Ulsterman and would not have been displeased to be drawn with his old Ryder Cup adversary, who had him in stitches on the putting green.
A good start. Sightings of the Woods teeth are a rare thing on a golf course in 2010. “Thought you’d like that one,” Clarke said, leaving the cheeky among us to infer ribald content. Nudge, nudge, wink, wink. Well, Tiger does have form.
This was Clarke’s second start of the day. He was out before breakfast to complete the remainder of his second round. He finished with the St Andrews classic – five and three, bogeying the Road Hole then smashing one up the 18th for a birdie to close on four under.
Out of the breeze, stiffening to 30mph-plus in the more exposed precincts, the afternoon was almost balmy. Beers taken in the sun offered encouragement to those inclined to voice their opinion. Woods was about to discover which way the wind was really blowing. The answer rattled out of the gallery to his right, the biggest cheer of the week following Woods and Clarke down the first.
Woods was back in the mix on a Saturday afternoon at St Andrews, a blue sky widening overhead. This is what golfing nirvana used to look like when he was a clean living lad with a wife and kids waiting for him over the rainbow. Maybe this would be the day that the game came back to him, and he to the game. The message on the breeze was “Go Tiger, sink some putts”.
Clarke’s putter ended the dream sequence, taking three to get down from inside 20 feet. Woods described his second round as one of the best. Golfing in high wind is like wrestling with a bear. He fought the beast all the way, managing to land a blow on the snout with his birdie at the last.
Any tournament, if it is to be remembered, needs its stars to fire. Mark Calcavecchia and Louis Oosthuizen were a novel final pairing but nothing like sexy enough to carry this event. The galleries wanted to see Tiger rip up the Old Course as he did in 2000 and 2005.
What Woods required was the ball to bounce his way. He thought it had on the second when a 30-yard putt that started life on a part of the surface owned by the 16th green lasered towards the hole. Tiger thought the ball had dropped. Up went the arms, the gallery behind the green followed suit, but the ball lipped out.
The Woods putter has cooled these past couple of years. The luck has deserted him, too. A fantastic tee shot on the fifth landed on a slope, tricky in a raging crosswind. His approach found gorse. Not the reward his ball striking this week deserved. A one-shot penalty took him back to three under. A duffed chip at the eighth saw another slip away.
With the wind from the west the ninth hole offers convalescence for troubled golfers. At just 352 yards it is vulnerable to the big hitter. Woods had no choice but to open his shoulders and let the club head go. The crowd around the St Andrews loop loved it when the ball rolled on to the green and, two putts later, disappeared. That’s magic. An afternoon of give and take took him to the Road Hole level for the day at four under.
At the 17th he went out of bounds, but recovered for bogey. While at the last, a massive drive gave a good chance for an eagle. Wayward putting, however, saw him finish with a par for a round of 73 and a three-under total.