Tuesday, August 22, 2000
Bledsoe can only admit what
Woods did
By Jim Donaldson
The Providence Journal
FOXBORO, Mass. — After what happened
Sunday afternoon, Drew Bledsoe couldn't wait to watch the tape
Monday.
Not of the Bucs game, which the Patriots
lost, 31-21, but of Tiger Woods's triumph in the PGA Championship.
“As an athlete, as a fan, I love watching
what Tiger's doing,” Bledsoe said Monday before heading out
to practice with the Pats in preparation for their final preseason
game Thursday night against Carolina at Foxboro Stadium.
“I love watching excellence, in any
sport. I only got to see the highlights (Sunday) night. But Eric
Bjornson recorded it, so we're going to watch the whole thing
on tape.”
There can be 1-on-1 battles in football
between offensive and defensive linemen, or receivers and defensive
backs, but they're not the same as the 21-hole, head-to-head matchup
between the incomparable Woods and the unheralded, and also undaunted,
Bob May in the final round of the final major of the year.
“The battles between Bruce Armstrong
and Bruce Smith always are great battles,” said Bledsoe,
thinking of past confrontations between the Pats' veteran left
tackle and the former Buffalo defensive end, one of the NFL's
all-time great pass rushers, who moved to Washington this season
as a free agent.
“But there's no battle in a team sport
that can compare with what happened (at Valhalla).”
Bledsoe, who was an NFL starter at the tender
age of 21, knows what it's like to play under pressure.
So he has a keen appreciation of, and admiration
for, what Woods has accomplished.
“He has the ability to focus in the
most difficult circumstances,” Bledsoe said. “Everybody
is always watching him, but he believes in himself when he's on
the grandest stage, in the toughest situations.
“When he gets on that grand stage,
he knows he's going to rise above. He really believes nobody can
beat him.”
In the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach in June,
in the British Open at St. Andrews in July, and in the PGA Championship
over the weekend in Louisville, nobody could beat Woods, who became
the first player since Ben Hogan in 1953 to win three major championships
in the same year.
And that's a joy to watch, whether you're
Joe Fan or Drew Bledsoe.
(c) 2000, The Providence Journal.
Visit projo.com, the online service of The Providence Journal
at http://www.projo.com
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
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