He was still there, still very much in the chase. Tiger Woods was playing the way we remember. As opposed to that other glamour athlete from southern California, Kobe Bryant.

The Lakers are Hollywood's basketball team. Jack Nicholson is almost always sitting courtside, and at Thursday's debacle, when they blew a 24-point lead, to lose 97-91 to the Celtics which put Boston one game away from the NBA title, the viewing cast at Staples Arena also included Denzel Washington, Will Smith, Dyan Cannon and Matt Damon.

In a way, this US Open, at Torrey Pines, 120 miles south of Los Angeles, is Hollywood's golf tournament. Del Mar race track, where Bing Crosby hung out and of which he sang "Where the turf meets the surf" is only three exits along Interstate five. Movie people populate the elite shops of La Jolla.

And Tiger is an LA area guy, and a huge Lakers fan. "Oh, man,'' said Woods of the Lakers' loss, "that was a tough night. I can't believe that happened. But that's sport.

"Welcome to sport. That's why we play the game. I think the only time I have ever seen a big lead go away in our sport, golf, is probably with Greg.''Greg Norman, famously squandered a six-shot lead to Nick Faldo in the final round of the 1996 US Masters.

Los Angeles has no NFL team. San Diego has no NBA team. The Lakers are everybody's team from Bakersfield to the Mexico border. The way Woods is everybody's golfer, from the North Pole to the South Pole.

The Lakers and Bryant, who couldn't score in that awful second half, are all but done. The US Open and Woods in effect are only just starting. Forget Kobe and basketball. Pay attention to Tiger and golf.

Halfway through the 108th Open, and Stewart Appleby was in front, with a 69-70 - 139, three under par. Tied for second on 140, a shot behind were Rocco Mediate, Robert Karlsson and Tiger. A shot further back at 141 were, DJ Trahan, Davis Love III, Lee Westwood and Miguel Angel Jimenez.

It was another afternoon of June gloom on the bluffs along the Pacific coast. The sun never burst through the clouds. That's opposed to the gloom and doom, which figuratively covered all of southern California after the way Bryant and the Lakers fell apart.

The Los Angeles Times and the LA Daily News are currently carrying front page stories of memorable LA sporting failures, sifting through history, keeping alive the agony.

Tiger, however, was just keeping himself alive. Three-over par and for a brief while six behind Appleby and seven adrift of Mediate, Woods, who played the back nine first, birdied holes one, two, four and five. Then another birdie on nine, his final hole to shoot a five-under 30 on his back nine. Tiger shot himself right into contention.

"I felt if I played well on my back nine, I could definitely get to even par for the tournament and I would be right back in the championship,'' said Woods. "And all of a sudden I started running them in from everywhere.'' And all of a sudden, the US Open was considerably more exciting. For two days it was Tiger, Phil Mickelson and Adam Scott, in order the world's first, second and third-ranked players, in the same threesome, not doing very much. Until Tiger stepped it up. The knee is sore, but the shots are sure. And the best putter in the game just couldn't miss.

After a 38 on his first nine, despite an eagle-3 at the 13th, Woods ripped out that 30. Wasn't that the way it was supposed to be?

"Kind of interesting, the way we played,'' Tiger said about himself and his playing partners.

"We struggled at different times, went on our birdie runs at different times. I would make a couple of bogeys and then Phil and Adam would make a couple of birdies. Then all of a sudden we flip-flopped.'' They weren't flip-flopped all that much in yesterday's late-starting third round. While Tiger was out with Swede Karlsson in the second last pairing of the day behind Mediate and Appleby, Mickelson and Scott were together again. Tied for 35th place at four-over par 146.

Davis Love had speculated that Woods might have more problems this week overcoming six weeks of non-comp-etition than he would with any soreness in the left knee following his surgery in April.

"I've been down this road before,'' said Woods about both the lay-off and the operation. "With breaks and then coming back and playing. I had a procedure done in 2002. I've taken a number of weeks off.'' He's not taking this one off, he's right where he should be - in the chase for a title.

Unlike Kobe Bryant.