Thursday, June 14, 2001
Mental focus puts Woods head
and shoulders above the rest
By Jim McCabe
c.2001 The Boston Globe
TULSA, Okla. — Blowing with a steady
ferocity that is common here in the central plains, the wind provides
only temporary relief from sauna-like conditions that grip Southern
Hills Country Club once the calendar turns to June. Hundreds of
majestic trees that outline the fairways are pursued because of
their critical shade, but that, too, is of short-term assistance.
So even with the wind and the shade, it
is easy to feel trapped in the moments leading up to the 101st
US Open, unable to escape the wrath of a Midwest summer's heat.
You are left drenched in perspiration, but in good company, joined
by golfers whose faces you recognize. Their polished skills have
earned them fame, fortune, and a sunsplashed lifestyle.
At this point, fame, fortune, and a sunsplashed
lifestyle seem to equate to hell on earth for these golfers. Their
eyes are glazed, their blank expressions and hollow words proof
that they're battered and beaten from too many encounters with
a force that seems to have no end.
Tiger Woods has not only beaten them all
silly, he has sucked the life out of them, leaving them to answer
questions that have no explanation. One hundred times he has teed
it up as a professional in a PGA Tour event, and 28 times he has
won, a percentage so mind-boggling it's beyond comprehension in
a sport where one win can make a career. But, of course, that
only introduces the real story, which involves the zenith of his
professional golf — major championships.
When he tees off for the 2001 US Open, Woods
again will be walking a path that has never been trampled, one
arm around history, one objective fueling his competitive juices.
He has four straight victories in major championships.
Unprecedented and unbelievable but not a
Grand Slam, said the purists, for it was spread out over two seasons.
At first the semantical debate seemed to
amuse Woods, but gradually it became bothersome, an argument that
took away from his incredible feat. Thus, the stare has grown
colder in each minute leading up to the US Open, not melting one
bit in the insufferable humidity this week. Choke on your semantics,
he just may get the pure Grand Slam this year.
Silly?
Nick Price is at the front of a long parade
of marquee names who aren't laughing. Not anymore.
“I guess I'll never be surprised in
golf again,” he said. “Not after having seen what Tiger
has done”
Begrudgingly, heads nod up and down the
line.
“What else is there to talk about in
the game of golf right now?” asked David Duval. “What
else is there to say?”
CEO of his game
That Woods has taken over not only the game,
but the major championships, at the tender age of 25, no less,
is frightening to his opposition. But more terrifying is this
reality: He is doing it with an unseen power. His mind.
“Jack (Nicklaus) was one of the greatest
minds I've ever seen in managing a golf course,” said Lee
Trevino. “And now, Tiger Woods not only plays like Jack,
he also manages a golf course like Jack. You can go out there
and hit a golf ball 300 yards and putt like hell, but if you don't
manage a course right, it's going to eat you up sooner or later.”
That is why a long list of PGA Tour millionaires
have been served up as an entree from time to time, while Woods
has barely been an appetizer. Oh, there was a double-bogey at
the 17th hole at East Lake GC last fall, when Woods was outplayed
in the final round by Phil Mickelson, and the third shot into
the water at the 72d hole in this year's Dubai Desert Classic
stands as a blip on the radar screen. But in his brief and meteoric
career, Woods has been robotic, seemingly immune from mental mistakes
when it counts.
The titanium, the solid-core ball, the lob
wedge, the launch monitor, improved shafts, video cameras, personal
swing coaches, private jets, courtesy cars. They are ingredients
in a recipe that is public, possessed by all of the world's greatest
golfers.
The flawless mind? Woods has it. His opponents
know it and can't fathom how to match it.
“No athlete is more focused on getting
what he wants than Tiger,” said Stuart Appleby. “His
mental focus is huge, the ability to turn on, turn off. To get
in there and go and never let up.”
Joe Durant: “Some buddies of mine back
home last week said, `What's the deal with this guy?' Well, he's
as gifted as much as anyone, more than anyone, plus he's got the
mental skill more than anybody out here, basically. Kind of a
scary combination when you put it together.”
Price: “When he plays really well,
he doesn't seem to make that many mistakes. When other guys are
playing well, they make a few mistakes.”
Sergio Garcia: “The way to overcome
Tiger is to be perfect. And if not, congratulate him.”
Davis Love: “He's been winning the
mental battle.”
And winning, and winning, and winning, Love
may have added.
Butch Harmon, Woods's swing coach since
they were brought together five-plus years ago, will tell you
that it boils down to a simple truth: Woods will never, ever quit.
“He'd rather shoot 73 than 74. He'd rather shoot 72 than
73. There's no quit in him,” said Harmon.
There was a sports psychologist who doubled
as a caddie and guided Woods through the mental rigors of junior
golf years ago, and there was Earl Woods, the father who groomed
the world's greatest golfer, believed in teaching life's toughest
lessons. Thus, when father and son arrived at a golf tournament
one day, young Tiger was dismayed to discover he could not play.
The clubs were not in the trunk, a fact that Earl had known, though
he drove anyway.
It was the kid's responsibility to put the
clubs in the trunk, reasoned the father.
Young Tiger bit his lip, took the hit, and
continued on a historical journey that seems to have no end.
It's all about Tiger
An age-old golf axiom: You play the course,
not some colleague with clubs.
But in light of what Woods has accomplished,
has that changed? Do players now have to look at what Woods is
doing and play against him, even as early as Thursday?
“That used to be a question you'd get
mad at,” said Brad Faxon. “But now, you have to think
about it because this guy is just dominating.”
Still, when tournaments roll around and
the questions invariably concern Woods, players who have been
used to receiving adulation aren't sure how to react.
Some, like Mickelson, refuse to spread on
a thick coat of praise, as if that is a white flag and a blemish
to their manhood. “I certainly respect him as a player and
an individual,” said the lefthander, not anxious to go any
further.
Others, like Ernie Els, a two-time winner
of this US Open, have been down this road so many times the last
two years that the irritation has become part of the landscape.
“I definitely can't help that the guy is that good. You've
got to hand it to him,” said the personable South African,
a frequent victim of Woods's magic. “It's no wonder you guys
ask these questions. It's just the way it is.”
And don't expect it to change, said Price,
who, at 44, counts his blessings that he earned three major championships
before Woods burst onto the scene.
“He absolutely annihilated that golf
course (Pebble Beach),” said Price of last year's US Open
triumph when Woods was 12-under, 15 shots clear of his nearest
competitor. “What he did to the rest of the field was part
and parcel of what he did to the golf course. It just shows his
ability, his mental toughness.”
A huge part of that is not letting down
his guard, a routine that Woods has mastered. Stock answers are
the norm when customary questions are thrown his way.
How's he playing? “Well, I broke 80
four times last week, so that's pretty good.”
Would he bet on himself? “I don't think
it would be a good business decision.”
And when his round is slightly off? “I
hit a lot of good putts that just didn't go in.”
Nothing revealing, which is just how he
wants it. His mission is to win golf tournaments, specifically
of the major flavor, and to that end he is not here to humor or
otherwise entertain us. Marvel at his talents, just don't try
and figure out how his mind works, though his opponents would
give anything to have the blueprint.
“If you have a racing car that's better
than every other team,” said Appleby, “then every other
team has got to look at that and say, `Why is it better?' Is it
the driver, the mechanics? What is it?' ”
A glimpse under the hood of Woods tells
us it's the driver. Or make that, the driver's mind. It's one
of a kind.
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