Tuesday, July 30,
2002
The
best of their time, the best at Bighorn
By DOUG FERGUSON
AP Golf Writer (Photo)
 PALM
DESERT, Calif. (AP) - Jack Nicklaus knocked down a flag and Tiger
Woods took care of the rest Monday night as the best players of
their generations lived up to the billing in the Battle at Bighorn.
On a sweltering afternoon
in the desert, Woods torched Bighorn with the kind of performance
he could have used in the British Open. He made nine birdies in
16 holes and carried Nicklaus to a 3 and 2 victory over Sergio
Garcia and Lee Trevino.
Nicklaus made only
a few contributions, but they were memorable.
Despite an ailing
back and 62-year-old legs, Nicklaus hit a 7-iron that kissed off
the flagstick for a tap-in birdie on No. 9 as he and Woods won
four straight holes in the middle of the match and turned this
battle into a breeze.
The fourth annual
made-for-TV exhibition pitted two of the best players from their
generations in a best-ball match.
They didn't disappoint.
Woods was 9 under
for his round when the match ended under the lights on No. 16
with his 3-foot par putt. So dominant was his performance that
he didn't even get a chance at two other birdie putts inside 10
feet.
Nicklaus stole the
show on those two holes, making his only other birdie on No. 13
with a 12-foot putt.
Trevino, the 62-year-old
"Merry Mex" contributed three birdies and most of the
conversation. The only time he stopped talking was when he hit
the ball.
And the night wasn't
a total loss for Garcia, the 22-year-old Spaniard known lately
for the countless waggles and regrips. Nicklaus tried to counsel
him on the strange habit, telling Garcia that he, too, was guilty
of slow play.
"Finally, I
had a couple of penalty times and I learned to play faster,"
Nicklaus said.
Garcia got another
lesson that he knows all too well.
"We had our
chances, but we missed too many putts on the front nine,"
he said. "When you're playing against a guy of this caliber,
if you don't make the putts, you can't afford it."
Birdies were a must
in the best-ball format.
The only hole that
someone didn't birdie was the last one. Garcia had a 15-footer
to extend the match, but it slipped by on the left.
Nicklaus had not
played with Woods since the first two rounds of the 2000 PGA Championship
at Valhalla, where Woods went on to win in a playoff for his third
out of four consecutive majors.
"I know now
that I have no business playing on the regular tour," Nicklaus
said. "If you see the way Tiger and Sergio play, there's
no such thing as a par-5 anymore. My partner was great. And I
like to win."
So does Woods, who
came out with a focus that belied the hit-and-giggle event. Garcia
is the only player to have beaten Woods in the Battle at Bighorn,
and Woods seemed bent on gaining some revenge in the middle of
a team event.
It all led to a far
more compelling event than last year, when hot blasts of desert
wind, ridiculously tough conditions and an alternate-shot format
guaranteed a snoozer in a mixed-team match featuring Woods and
Annika Sorenstam against David Duval and Karrie Webb.
That wasn't the only
difference.
The conversation
was off the charts, most of it thanks to the Merry Mex.
Trevino started gabbing
from the moment he arrived on the practice range, and stopped
only long enough to hit the ball.
"All you have
to do is shut up and listen," Woods said after the eighth
hole.
Woods spoke volumes
with his club.
With temperatures
topping out at 107 degrees, Woods got off to a blazing start by
hitting his approach into 6 feet for birdie on the first hole,
then making a 15-footer for birdie on No. 2.
"If he keeps
doing that, there's no sense putting the lights up," Trevino
said.
Trevino must have
wanted to see those lights, because he answered with birdie putts
of 10 and 15 feet on the next two holes to square the match, and
Garcia got in on the act with a 12-foot birdie putt on the par-3
sixth hole for a 1-up lead.
That was fleeting.
Woods and Nicklaus
won the next four holes, the turning point coming on No. 8 when
all four players had the hole surrounded.
Nicklaus went first,
rifling a 2-iron into 12 feet. Woods hit 5-iron, and the ball
stopped about 10 inches from going into the hole. He caught Nicklaus
looking at his choice of club and said, "I just took a little
off it."
Trevino and Garcia
both pulled their putts to fall 1-down, then Nicklaus finally
contributed with a shot that brought out the loudest roar of the
match _ a 7-iron that hit the flag and stopped a foot away.
"That was the
highlight," Woods said. "Lee called it. He said, 'Jack
is going to hit this one stiff.'"
Trevino and Woods
slapped hands as the crowd roared.
This time, there
was plenty to applaud.
Battle
at Bighorn, Cards
By The Associated
Press
Par out 445 443 534-36
Woods-Nicklaus 334 443 423-30
Garcia-Trevino 444 332 534-32
___
Par in 445 345 344-36_72
Woods-Nicklaus 344 234 3xx
Garcia-Trevino 534 334 3xx
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