Tuesday, November
26, 2002
Tiger
goes for fifth straight Grand Slam title
By Jaymes Song
Associated Press
POIPU BEACH, Hawaii
— Beating Tiger Woods when he’s relaxed and having fun
at the PGA Grand Slam of Golf has been nearly impossible.
Justin Leonard, Davis
Love III and PGA Champion Rich Beem will try to stop Woods this
week from winning his fifth straight Grand Slam title.
“I’m excited
about being here again,” said Woods, the Masters and U.S.
Open champion. “I always have a fantastic time here and I’m
sure this year will be no exception.”
Woods said he enjoys
playing the event at the Poipu Bay Golf Course on the island of
Kauai because of the relaxed oceanside setting, warm weather,
friendly people and the intimate atmosphere with fans.
“This is the
hardest tournament to qualify for,” he said.
The $1 million, 36-hole
stroke-play event begins today and is reserved for the winners
of the four major championships. With Woods winning a pair of
majors and British Open Ernie Els dropping out because of scheduling
conflicts, Leonard and Love were able to slip in because of their
standing on the major championship points list.
“Justin and
I are real happy Ernie is not here,” Love joked. “We
are not disappointed at all.”
Beem is making his
first appearance.
Love tied for 14th
in the Masters and British Open, and tied for 24th in the U.S.
Open and 48th in the PGA Championship. He’s had success at
Poipu, finishing third in 1997 and second in 2000.
“This is a great,
great event,” Love said. “Like Tiger said, it’s
intimate. It’s not like there are 20,000 people out here.
It’s a nice quiet group that is fun to play in front of.”
Leonard’s season
included a tie for fourth in the PGA Championship, tie for 12th
in the U.S. Open, a tie for 14th in the British Open, and a tie
for 20th in the Masters.
Leonard hopes to
fare better this week than he did in 1997 when he finished in
last place.
“You know it
is pretty easy to improve on a fourth-place finish by about eight
shots,” he said. “I think Ernie won that year and during
his acceptance speech, he thanked Tiger and David for pushing
him onto victory and he thanked me for the entertainment value.”
Woods finished in
second place that year and won every following Grand Slam. He
also topped the money list for the fourth straight year with $6,912,625
on the PGA Tour.
All four contestants
will go home with some unofficial prize money. The Grand Slam
winner will earn $400,000 with the fourth-place finisher earning
$150,000.
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