They showed up by the thousands Saturday in the heat and humidity of a typical D.C. summer day.
They showed up hoping for a glimpse of what once was, a past time, a time of glory for the biggest name on the property at TPC Potomac.
And for a stretch of four holes Tiger Woods gave ’em all what they came and wanted to see — a glimpse of the past.
Woods started Moving Day at The National a mere four shots behind the leaders. Heck, surely four shots is nothing to the guy he used to be, especially in an event like this where big names were sparse.
After a very slow start and enough groans to get your attention, Woods came to life with that new-fangled putter of his.
He sank a seven-footer for birdie at the fourth then another from the same distance at five. He staked those approaches, just like he used to. The roars were growing.
At the sixth a 12-footer found the bottom of the cup then at seven he fist-pumped and stepped an eight-footer in. Four straight birdies. Tiger was eight under par and just two off the lead.
The roars were thunderous — hey baby, this could be No. 80 on Sunday!
As the day wore on and the heat soared, so did the anticipation. Seven straight one-putts on the front. He’s back! Call in and ask the pro-shop to save us one of those Ardmore 3s.
Then as quickly as it seemed to happen on the front, it began to fade away on the back.
At the reachable par five 10th Woods had to layup but staked his third to eight-feet. Big miss for a birdie. Didn’t matter, Woods blew an eight-iron from 187 on the 11th and stuck it seven feet.
Oops.
Missed that one too.
That fickle momentum. She stayed at the concession stand at the turn.
A 21-footer at 12 came up just short then at the short 13th an errant driving iron off the tee led to a poor second, then a poor chip then a buzz-killing bogey.
Surely the short, reachable par four 14th would save him. Or not. A three-wood found the light rough then a not-so-great chip left him eight feet for birdie. Miss.
Basically it was done at that point in time. He did birdie 16 but gave it back at 18. Sixty-eight, seven-under and six back of the leaders. He started the day just four back.
Abraham Ancer had all the answers on his way to a career round 62 that took him to 13-under. European star Francesco Molinari finished birdie-birdie to tie the lead.
Two behind them are Zac Blair and Ryan Armour.
Surely Tiger Woods had to be asking himself — who are those guys?
The fact of life on today’s tour is that no one really cares much about the 42-year-old who chalked up 79 wins. That was then.
This is now and they simply go out and shoot lights out, no matter where the PGA Tour lands.
Such was life on Moving Day at The National.
Tiger Woods moved for a while. Moved really well, until he couldn’t move any more.
And that’s what he’s up against these days.
