Don’t tell Dennis Paulson that playing with Tiger Woods for the first time isn’t a day at the beach. Paulson made great escapes from five bunkers Saturday on his way to a 1-under-par 71 in the third round of the Advil Western Open.
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“I hope you don’t have to pay the caddie per bunker,” Paulson cracked.
Don’t tell Paulson that Woods hits it a long way. Paulson, a former national long-drive champion, used his driver all day. Woods hit 3-woods–and outdrove him again and again. “Hit it by me 30 yards every time,” Paulson said, and this is the guy who in 1986 needed only a driver and a 7-iron to reach the green on Dubsdread’s 568-yard ninth hole. “My caddie said, `Now you know how people feel when they play with you.'”
Don’t tell Paulson that playing with Woods, even when Woods shoots a boring 70, isn’t fun. During long waits on the fifth, sixth, ninth, 10th, 15th and 18th tees, Paulson kept Woods laughing with his friendly banter.
Don’t tell Paulson that Woods is too darn serious on the course. When Woods holed a 30-foot putt for birdie on the 16th hole, Paulson pretended to toss Woods’ ball into the nearby hazard. Two holes later, Paulson watched his slick 50-foot putt find the bottom of the cup for par, then turned to heave his ball into the nearby pond.
And missed.
“Tiger started cracking up,” Paulson said. “He said, `I can’t believe you missed the pond.'”
After Woods’ birdie putt slid by the cup a few minutes later, Paulson ran over, picked up his own ball in the deep grass and this time successfully threw it into the water as the crowd cheered.
“If you can’t have fun playing with Tiger Woods, you might as well give up the game,” Paulson said. “The nicest thing about Tiger is he’s always rooting for you. He’s always saying, `Nice shot.’ That’s a lot better than playing with a guy who doesn’t say a word.”
Paulson is at 6-under 210, seven shots out of the lead. He said he was more thrilled than intimidated when he found out he would be paired with Woods on Saturday.
“It was cool,” Paulson said. “I think the first time you play with him you’d much rather play with him in a third-round situation, without the added pressure. It might be tough the last day when it matters and everybody is rooting for him.
“It’s not Tiger, it’s the gallery. There wasn’t a lot of stuff today, because the galleries here are very knowledgeable. But sometimes they forget there are other players on the course.”
Paulson is 37. After four years on the PGA Tour, Paulson won the Buick Open earlier this season for his first victory on the tour (this sentence as published has been corrected in this text). He tried to make it through PGA Tour qualifying school eight times. On the ninth try he hit the jackpot. When you’ve been that persistent, you’re not about to let a little Tigermania get under your skin.
“In the hole!” one fan shouted as Woods’ drive on the 525-yard, par-5 fifth hole soared out of sight.
“Stay out of the woods, Tiger,” a would-be comedian shouted as Woods hunted for his ball in the right rough on the ninth hole.
“Not funny!” another fan replied as Paulson trudged resolutely toward his own ball.
“It’s a heck of a lot more fun playing with him than in front of him, which I’ve done a few times,” Paulson said. “His crowds get two, three deep at every hole, and after he’s done putting sometimes they rush ahead because the crowds are so big the only way you can watch him is every other hole. They’re not being rowdy, they just want to see him. It’s much better to play with him.”
Paulson said Woods’ fans never disrupted his concentration. “A murmur is never a big thing,” he said. “It’s when you’ve got no one watching you and you get an old man playing with the change in his pocket that you notice it.”
A Vista, Calif., product, Paulson has been noticing Woods from afar for a long time. He remains as awed by his talent now as when he first saw him play.
“He played at the club I grew up on,” Paulson said. “I watched him play at Santa Ana Country Club quite a bit in junior golf. I helped out at tournaments there when he was as young as 8 years old. Even a blind person could tell then he was pretty amazing.”
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