Tuesday, June 18,
2002
Slam
quest: Part 3 upcoming
By Bernie Linicome
Scripps Howard News Service
Next.
That would be Muirfield
and the Honorable and Ancient Company of Edinburgh Golfers, awaiting
in Scotland the arrival of Tiger Woods and his Grand Slam caravan.
The British Open
is called only The Open over there, but it might as well be the
Tiger Celebration or the Woods Carnival because it just became
more than another funky, foreign golf tournament. It is the next
inspection of Woods’ greatness, as if such a review is not
the most foolish of redundancies.
And if Woods wins
in Scotland, the PGA Championship in August at Chaska, Minn.,
will be a combination of the running of the bulls in Pamplona,
the Pillsbury Bake-Off and a reunion of The Beatles, and I’m
talking about all four of them.
No one has been in
this position in 30 years, not since Jack Nicklaus in 1972.
“I’ve won
the Slam before,” Woods said, referring to his signature
Grand Slam, holding all four major titles at once, but never in
a single season.
“No one’s
ever done that. I’m very proud of that. Call it what you
want. When I was home I had all four trophies on my mantle. No
one else can say that. This Slam will be different.”
Will be different,
said Woods, not would be or might be. No hypotheticals in the
mind of Tiger Woods. He simply does not consider failure, even
subconsciously.
“It has to be
easier than when I was asked the Grand Slam question for the seven
months before the Masters,” Woods said.
Of such trifling
distinctions is Woods measured. Four in a row, four in a year,
the rest of the golfing world sniffs after one crumb at a time,
one in a career, or, in the case of Phil Mickelson, none out of
40.
“I’ve got
a lot of work to do if I expect to break through and win a tournament
when he (Woods) is in the field,” Mickelson said. “It’s
a challenge and I love it. If not, it won’t be as rewarding
when I do come out on top.”
Dream on, Lefty.
And Sergio Garcia. David Duval. Justin Leonard, all those wannabes
of the Woods generation.
Woods is going to
have to become bored or injured for things to change.
“I’m only
26,” Woods said. “It’s not like my career is finished.
I’m going to try to get better. I love the chance to win
on Sunday in big events. It is what we all dream about.”
Only Woods’
dreams include the ghosts of greatness. As everyone else has to
face being compared to Woods, only Woods deserves to be and faces
the burden of being judged against history.
Somewhere ahead is
Nicklaus and Bobby Jones and, oh, any other museum pieces that
Woods, in his spare time, might consider dusting as he does his
contemporaries, those unfortunate schlubs who are doomed to match
the best they are with the best that Woods is.
Woods has only the
records of relics to encourage him, (Nicklaus’ 18 majors,
Jones’ nine U.S. Golf Association titles, Sam Snead’s
81 Tour victories, his own, personal single-year Slam, never done)
for there is none on the course with him who can do more than
yell for Woods to stop and wait until they get better, wiser or
more blessed.
“I tried, I
gave it my best shot,” said Garcia, damning himself and all
the others with the truth.
“Eventually,
it will happen,” said Mickelson, who is sort of the perpetual
bronze medalist of major championships. “One of these days,
I’ll get the breaks.
“I mean, he
was winning at Augusta by 18 and the Open at Pebble Beach by 16.
There was a huge gap. I’m catching up.”
And so Woods won
another U.S. Open by playing no better than he had to, refusing
to lose while others declined to win.
Maybe what is needed
is computer-generated matches with Nicklaus at age 26 or Arnold
Palmer in full charge or Ben Hogan at the top of his game. The
real thing is becoming as tedious and safe as shadow boxing.
“You don’t
know how hard this is,” Woods insisted. “This is a difficult
sport and fickle. You can play well and lose.”
Something for Mickelson
and Garcia to take to Muirfield — and warm clothes, of course.
Contact
Bernie Lincicome of the Denver Rocky Mountain News at http://www.rockymountainnews.com
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