Monday, September 11, 2000

Tiger needs a handicap to make PGA competitive

By Candy Reagan

Perhaps there’s still a slim chance for competitive golf in the PGA.

With Tiger Woods’ 11-stroke victory in the NEC Invitational, his 15-stroke victory in the U.S. Open and his eight-stroke victory in the British Open, I was beginning to believe all the reports that said no one else even has a chance.

But Woods has also lost the Buick Open, needed a playoff to win the PGA Championship and lost by one to Sergio Garcia in the made-for-television Battle at Bighorn.

So maybe there is hope for those of us who like a nail-biting, exciting, down-to-the-wire victory.

Apparently, Tiger Woods need only spot the rest of the field seven strokes in the first round of each tournament, and maybe then other players can stay close enough to make the final day exciting. That’s what he did with an off day in the first round of this past weekend’s Canadian Open.

Or perhaps the PGA needs to regularly give Tiger the wrong tee times, so he won’t have time for breakfast, doesn’t get to warm up and starts off a little frazzled. That happened in the second round this weekend. Maybe then, he’ll only shoot an impressive but mortal 7 under and still be close enough to the rest of the pack that someone has a chance.

Or maybe the PGA should require him to stay in a hotel at least 600 miles away, so he has to add air travel to his pre-tournament activities. (That’s what he did the morning before Battle at Bighorn.)

Or line up speaking engagements and clinics to wear him out a little before a tournament. (He did a clinic the morning of the “Battle.”)

Or inflict him with the flu before a tournament. (He had flu symptoms during the Battle and on the final day of the NEC Invitational.)
Sure, none of this will actually keep him from winning, but it might give the other guys a chance.

The entire world is tuning in to see Tiger make history, but it’d be a lot more fun to see him compete against something other than the record books. A win would be more thrilling if there were a chance he could lose.

Generally, the most memorable tournaments are the ones that included some suspense. That’s why I loved the PGA Championship, where Bob May forced Tiger into a playoff. What a great tournament. It was absolutely thrilling.

That Tiger is in a league of his own is indisputable. Remember when David Duval versus Tiger Woods was going to be the battle of the new generation?

When was the last time you heard much from Duval? And remember when the charismatic Sergio Garcia was going to provide a little competition for Tiger?

But Sergio had dropped out of site until his victory at Bighorn and this weekend in the Canadian Open where he showed some life. Ernie Els and Phil Mickelson are having great years, but they can’t hold a candle to Woods.

And May had a once-in-a-lifetime tournament, but he still couldn’t pull out a victory.

When asked what a golfer needed to shoot to win a tournament these days, one golfer jokingly said, “Tiger Woods.”

Well, we can’t go that far. But perhaps we could throw in a handicap here or there just to make it more interesting. Perhaps we could make him play in the dark like on the final hole of the NEC Invitational.

Maybe then, someone else would at least have a chance.

Then again, maybe not.

Candy Reagan is a local free-lance writer and avid sports fan who writes a weekly column on sports happenings. She can be reached by e-mail at reagan@camalott.com.