Wednesday, Feb. 20,
2002
Woods ready for
challenge at Augusta
By GLENN SHEELEY
c. 2002 Cox News Service
CARLSBAD, Calif. - The No. 1 seed for today's first round of the Accenture Match Play Championship, Tiger Woods will enjoy the same role in seven weeks at the Masters as defending champion.
Then again, perhaps beefed-up Augusta National Golf Club, which has been lengthened by nearly 300 yards, should be the top seed.
During the traditional Masters champion's conference call Tuesday, Woods took playful issue with claims of "Tiger-proofing."
"The changes are not for me," Woods joked. "It's for the kids who are coming up in the future. I'm not that long anymore. I just kind of dink it around."
Woods believes the changes to nine holes will result in a 72-hole score one or two shots higher even "if the wind doesn't blow at all and we get absolutely perfect conditions."
No hole, he said, will be more dramatic than the 18th, which has been stretched to 465 yards and realistically will play to about 485 yards uphill.
"If you get the right wind, a par will be like making a birdie," said Woods, who played a practice round at Augusta late last fall and required a 5-iron to reach the 18th green. "I think if you play that hole in 16 (strokes) for the week, you're going to pick up a shot on the guys on top of the leaderboard.
"I'm really looking forward to going out there and getting my game on the new golf course," Woods said. "It's going to be a real heck of a test."
The Match Play Championship is the only one of the World Golf Championship titles that has eluded Woods, a three-time U.S. Amateur champion. Of gearing up more for this event because of it, Woods said, "I don't think I need to put that kind of pressure on myself."
Glenn Sheeley writes for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
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