Thursday, June 14, 2001
Beating Tiger just a romantic
notion
By Bob Ryan
c.2001 The Boston Globe
TULSA, Okla. — I know this sounds a
little, you know, out there, but I'm starting to think Tiger Woods
has already devalued the majors.
And it's not just the majors, but every
tournament he enters. If he wins, well, wasn't he supposed to?
If he loses, won't we simply say, “Hey, Tiger just wasn't
on his game”?
Tiger is making history in a sport where
you can make history for a long, long time. His tyrannical hold
on the PGA Tour could very well last until his mid-40s, he gets
injured, or he develops another significant interest in life (read:
romance). If Tiger keeps gobbling up majors, there will soon be
a 33-way tie for the honor of Best Player Never To Have Won A
Major, not that anyone will care.
There is nothing like this in any other
sport. We argue about who might be the best baseball, basketball,
football, or hockey players because in none of these sports is
there a definitive answer.
Pete Sampras remains the consensus choice
as the best male tennis player, but he is helpless on clay and
will never win a French Open, and, thus, will never win a Grand
Slam. There is no current unquestioned Numero Uno figure in world
football (i.e. soccer). The only person who comes to mind as being
remotely this dominant in his field is the great Formula One champion
Michael Schumacher.
But Schumacher does not go off as even money
against the entire field in major races. No, it is quite clear
Tiger Woods is the most imposing figure on the world sporting
stage.
Go back to Sampras for a minute. This clay-court
business underscores why Woods is so special in his own sport.
There are different types of golf courses. The differences are
pronounced enough to render certain players inefficient. Exhibit
A: Lee Trevino, who, in his prime, simply swore off Augusta National
as a place where he would never be able to do anything.
With Tiger, nothing matters. The course
could have hills, valleys, deserts, gorse, right-to-left tendencies,
left-to-right tendencies, an abundance of fairway bunkers, enough
water to cover up Wyoming, wind, rain, undulating greens, upside-down
cereal bowl greens such as the ones at Pinehurst, lions, tigers,
Komodo dragons, alligators, snakes, barbed wire, or moats. With
Tiger, it's seen one, seen 'em all.
Somebody asked Tom Lehman if he thought
the course here at Southern Hills was “setting up for Tiger's
game.” After suggesting the only person who could answer
that was Woods himself, Lehman did offer an appraisal.
“From my perspective,” Lehman
said, “I don't really see any course he can't play. I think
he's proven that over and over again. A course like Memorial plays
more into his strengths. But how do you talk about someone's strengths
when they have no weaknesses, so what do you say? I don't think
there's any course that doesn't favor the best player in the world.”
See, it's a given. There are 156 players
competing here and all 156 know if each one plays his best golf,
the winner will be Tiger Woods. At least, that's what they all
believe, starting with Tiger Woods himself.
Yeah, I know he said that even he wouldn't
bet on himself to win with these odds, but he said that because
it was “bad business,” not because he didn't think he
was going to win.
Two things will determine whether somebody
will beat him in this tournament. The first is luck. A few inches
can make a huge difference in someone's lie on this course. The
second, as always, is putting.
Putting is everyone's great variable. Even
Tiger cannot stick every approach within tap-in range. Birdies
are the result of successful 8-, 10-, 12-, 15-, and 20-foot putts.
If Tiger is putting sub-average Tiger, you have a reasonable chance.
If he is putting average Tiger, you still have some hope. If he
is putting ultra-Tiger, you might as well relax. Second-, third-,
or 10th-place money isn't so bad.
Tiger Woods isn't going to win every major
for the next 20 years. He just isn't. But it is not inconceivable
he will average two such titles a year for the next 12-15 years.
Among Tiger's advantages over the field is that with him it is
never about the money. The money is an abstract. For Tiger, it's
all about the competition. He has been raised by his father, Earl,
to believe that he was put on this earth to do special things.
Golf has never known such a maniacal competitor.
He will not be distracted. Remember that
business two years ago in the US Open about Phil Mickelson, his
wife, and the baby that was due at any moment? Mickelson said
he was prepared to walk off the 18th green and abandon the tournament
if the beeper call came, or some such romance novel blather. Tiger
would putt over the baby to win a major.
Nobody wants to see him get hurt. So the
only real hope for the rest of the competition is the romance
angle. Frank Sinatra went ga-ga over Ava Gardner and it put him
off course for about five years. So forget about beating Tiger
on the course. Find a yenta who's got a real temptress on speed
dial.
Otherwise, they'd better get used to the
embarrassment of Tiger being even money against the field in every
major.
Start or Join A Discussion about This Story
Send the URL (Address)
of This Story to A Friend:
|
