ESPN.com - Golf Online - PGA Championship 2000

By David Kraft
ESPN Golf Online
Friday, August 18

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The 18th hole at Valhalla plays truer to par than any on the course. The 542-yard par-5 played to an average of 4.977 strokes on Friday.

But several strokes at 18 could prove meaningful in this year's PGA Championship.

No. 18 at a glance
Average	4.977
Rank	13
Eagles	0
Birdies	31
Pars	82
Bogeys	13
D-Bogeys	6
Others	1

Second-round leader Tiger Woods birdied the hole. So did second-place Scott Dunlap and third-place Fred Funk.

But J.P. Hayes and Davis Love III made bogeys. So instead of being three shots behind Woods heading into the third round, Hayes and Love are four shots back.

The way Woods is playing, it might not matter. But nobody wants to give strokes away -- especially on a hole most players stand on the tee thinking they'll walk off with a birdie.

Hayes played the 18th poorly and missed a par-saving putt.

"(The) 18th (hole) was a mistake," said Hayes, who at the time was the leader in the clubhouse.

Love hit a bad drive and never recovered.

"I hit a bad wedge on the third shot," said Love, who also bogeyed the 17th hole in near darkness. "By then, you are just trying to get finished so you don't have to come back and putt or tap in the next day."

Woods, meanwhile, played the 18th the same way he did in the first round -- 3-wood into the fairway, 3-wood into the greenside bunker, blast out and make the putt. Thursday, it was a short one. Friday, it was an 18-footer to regain the lead from Dunlap.

"Going to 18, I really wasn't too happy," said Woods, who had bogeyed the 17th, his first bogey of the day. "If I could somehow end with a birdie, it would be great. And to see my ball buried like that (in the bunker), after the best 3-wood I have hit the last two days ... it looked pretty and then plop, buried. I said, 'This is great.' "

Woods' sand shot came up well short.

"When I go up on the shelf, Stevie (Williams, his caddie) said, 'That's it. You're going to make it. We're going to get out of here with a birdie.'

"I said, 'Fine, we will do that.' I grinded and knocked it right in the middle of the hole. Went over to Stevie and I said, 'You were right.' "

The putt gave Woods the 36-hole lead in the a major for the third time this year. The last two he's gone on to win easily.

"If you're shooting 11-under par two days into a major, you should be leading," Woods said. "If you're not, hats off to that person."