Tiger Woods chips to the green on the second hole during the third round of the AT&T National golf tournament at Congressional Country Club, Saturday, July 4, 2009, in Bethesda, Md. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)
(AP)
Anthony Kim finally gets a crack at Tiger Woods, and when he says he has been practicing for a moment like this all his life, Kim isn't kidding.
As a 10-year-old growing up in Los Angeles, in those final hours of twilight as he waited for his father to pick up from the golf course, Kim imagined he was in the final pairing with Woods and had a 10-foot putt for the victory, with the world's No. 1 player watching.
"Man, they were going in a lot," Kim said, laughing.
He can only hope fantasy meets reality Sunday in the AT&T National.
Kim kept his cool after a couple of blunders at Congressional, saving par from 84 yards with a creative chip he had been too scared to try in competition, then making birdie on the 16th that led to a 2-under 68 and his name atop the leaderboard.
Woods, having lost a three-shot lead in a span of two holes with a double bogey on the 11th, found one last birdie with a putt up the slope of the 16th green to tap-in range that allowed him to salvage a roller-coaster round at 70.
That gave him a share of the lead with Kim at 10-under 210, and gave Congressional a Sunday showdown a bustling gallery has been craving since the tournament began Thursday.
Woods is tournament host. Kim is the defending champion.
Woods is the guy who made golf cool, a multiracial talent who shattered records during his rise to No. 1. Kim is perfecting cool, a bundle of energy at 24 who practices with music blaring from his iPod.
They are separated by just under 10 years, but this generation gap seems wider than that. Woods also grew up in Southern California, and he often stayed late on the practice green dreaming of the putt to win a major.
And who was he trying to beat?
Jack Nicklaus. Arnold Palmer. Ben Hogan. Sam Snead.
Told about Kim's tale of trying to beat him, Woods offered a wry smile.
"I'm aging," he said. "That's what that means."
