| AP Sports Headlines |
Wednesday, July 17, 2002
By DOUG FERGUSON
AP Golf Writer
GULLANE, Scotland (AP) - Tiger Woods was vague, his answers repetitive. For the first time at a major championship, he seemed unprepared and uncomfortable when handling a topic that was bound to come up at Muirfield.
His pursuit of the Grand Slam?
Nope.
What he thinks about Augusta National not having any women as members - and the fact the British Open is held at a course where women aren't even allowed in the clubhouse.
"It's one of those things where everyone has ... they're entitled to set up their own rules the way they want them," Woods said Tuesday. "It would be nice to see everyone have an equal chance to participate if they wanted to, but there's nothing you can do about it."
Woods said he would feel the same way if such golf clubs had no blacks or Asians.
"It's unfortunate," he said. "But it's just the way it is."
A controversy over Augusta National's male-only membership unfurled last week when club chairman Hootie Johnson angrily responded to a national women's group that demanded female members by next year's Masters tournament.
"There may well come a day when women will be invited to join our membership, but that timetable will be ours, and not at the point of a bayonet," he said.
While Johnson says Augusta does not have exclusionary membership policies, the club did not have a black member until 1990 and has never had a female member in its 70 years.
Muirfield has a wee bit more history.
The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers has been around since 1744 - making it 32 years older than the United States and a decade older than the Royal & Ancient Golf Club, which runs the British Open.
Women can play Muirfield as guests, just as they can at Augusta National.
One difference is that Augusta National owns the Masters, while the R&A only conducts the British Open at a rotation of courses in Scotland and England.
Asked whether he was concerned that Muirfield excluded women as members, R&A secretary Peter Dawson said, "We take the Open to the best links in the British Isles."
"We don't regard social engineering as part of our remit," he said.
When Woods was asked whether he could use his stature as the biggest star in golf to influence change, he said he has done his part through the Tiger Woods Foundation to involve more kids in golf who did not have access.
Among other things, he conducts an annual clinic for kids from inner cities.
"It would be nice to see every golf course open to everyone who wanted to participate, but that's just not where society is," Woods said. "If you just pigeonholed this single issue, I think you're not doing justice in the bigger scope, and I think there are a lot of other things that go into it. It's just not that simple."
Woods felt much more comfortable inside the ropes at Muirfield, where he turned in another sharp practice round on a surprisingly still, misty day along the Firth of Forth.
For now, Woods is far more interested in denying equal rights to players who want to win a major championship this year.
He has owned the majors lately. Not only is he the first player since Jack Nicklaus in 1972 to win the Masters and the U.S. Open in the same year, Woods has won seven of the last 11 majors dating to the '99 PGA Championship.
Woods already won a version of the Grand Slam last year when he claimed the Masters, becoming the first player to win four straight professional majors.
This time, he's going for all four in the same year.
"I think it's probably going to be a little more difficult to win in the same calendar year because you have to start off with the first one," he said. "The hardest thing when I won four in a row was to wait seven months between tournaments, and have to be asked that question for seven straight months.
"It's easier to deal with than the buildup to Augusta in '01."
This time, the buildup is only four weeks. Still, that represents his longest break from competitive golf before a major, brought on by flulike symptoms that caused him to skip the Western Open in Chicago.
Woods isn't worried.
"It wasn't like I was playing poorly," he said. "My practice rounds have gone very well and I'm pleased with the way I'm hitting the golf ball right now. I don't foresee a problem."
If anything, his driver might get a little rusty.
Even though the fairways are green and lush, there are enough slight bends and pot bunkers on the 7,034-yard course that accuracy is everything at Muirfield.
Woods has been hitting driver on only three out of 14 holes during his practice rounds, relying mostly on his 2-iron - even on par 5s, depending on the wind.
That is expected to give more players a chance than at Bethpage Black, the longest U.S. Open course in history, or at the Masters, which also played longer than ever because of a redesign that added 285 yards.
"Places like Bethpage eliminate 150 guys, leaving just six guys with a chance to win," said John Cook, the runner-up at Muirfield in 1992. "This course doesn't eliminate anybody."
Then again, four of the top seven from the U.S. Open were not exactly candidates to win a long-drive contest - Jeff Maggert, Scott Hoch, Nick Faldo and Billy Mayfair.
The British Open, just like any major, favors the guy who is playing at his best in all aspects of his game. Woods, who got an early tee time for the opening round Thursday (9:01 a.m. local time), figures to be among them.
"There is still one man to beat this week," Thomas Bjorn said. "He just is better than everyone else, and I don't think the golf course matters that much. As long as he does his thing, he will still go out as the favorite."
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