Tiger Woods says he's better now; prepare for
Tiger Mania
By Ed Sherman / Chicago Tribune
CHICAGO -- The recent numbers say no, he won't repeat. Seems
he's not Superman after all.
He has shot seven straight rounds in the 70s, and he has been
in the 60s in only six of his last 21 rounds. His last three finishing
rounds have been 73, 77 and 72.
His putter has been missing in action. He is averaging 1.79
putts per hole, ranking 78th on the PGA Tour. The nagging thing
about golf is that the last few feet count as much as those 320-yard
drives.
Since his sixth tour victory in the Motorola Western Open last
July, when it looked as if he could win any event just by signing
up, he has been a big zero. That's 15 starts, no championship
trophies.
Yet those who look at only the numbers don't know what he knows,
don't know what his father and teacher know. Those people don't
know what he has done to his swing, and they don't know his plan.
They don't know what is in his mind and in his heart.
All that other stuff has been a mere prelude to this week,
this stage. Tiger Woods returns to the Masters armed with a feeling
that will be ominous for the rest of the field.
Get ready for this: Woods says he is better than last year,
when he played Augusta National as if it were a tidy 4,900-yard
layout, not a 6,900-yard monster. How low can he go?
"Last year at this time I was not hitting the ball well,"
Woods said. "To do what I did was a miracle. This year I'm
hitting the ball better. I'm much more consistent. I'm not that
far off."
Woods' two biggest supporters are a little more unrestrained.
"I think he's going to top what he did last year (on tour),"
said Butch Harmon, Woods' coach. "He's going to win more
than last year. He's got a better game."
Woods' father, Earl, took it one step further.
"Tiger is focusing on the majors, and the first one is
now," Earl Woods said. "His game is right there. He's
about ready to explode."
So prepare for Tiger Mania, Part 2 of a 25-year series, maybe
longer.
Last year's explosion rocked the entire planet, not just the
golf world. What Woods did at Augusta last April was so stunning,
so phenomenal, so emotional that it was the sports story of the
year by acclamation (sorry, Michael Jordan).
History will forever note the 1997 Masters, when Woods broke
the tournament record by shooting 18 under par and lapped the
field by 12 strokes. At 21, Woods didn't waste any time in delivering
on his promise, turning himself into a sporting superstar with
an aura as bright as Jordan's.
Woods quickly received a crash course on handling celebrity,
with all its pressures and responsibilities. He grew so big he
was able to say no to an invitation from President Clinton. Along
the way he has made some mistakes and ruffled some feathers. Clearly,
this part of his life is a work in progress.
So is his game. Harmon and Earl Woods have been working to
get their pupil peaking for the Masters, which begins Thursday.
Now 22, Woods is following the same road as Jack Nicklaus, a nice
role model who always geared his game for the majors. One down,
17 to go for Woods to catch Nicklaus.
It was Nicklaus who predicted that Woods would win more green
jackets than the 10 he and Arnold Palmer combined to win--six
and four, respectively. Back then it seemed a little preposterous.
But not after last year. Nicklaus knew Woods' long game would
make the roughless Augusta layout defenseless. And he expects
Woods to do it again.
"If he plays reasonably well, he should do the same thing,"
Nicklaus said. "If he plays just fair, he should probably
still win."
Think of it this way. Even if Woods can't repeat his unbelievable
putting performance, when he navigated Augusta's treacherous greens
without a three-putt, he still has plenty of cushion. If Woods
had missed two putts per round last year, he still would have
shot 10-under and won by four shots.
It also should be noted that Woods hardly is limping coming
into Augusta. Virtually every player on the PGA Tour would like
to suffer from his slump. He ranks sixth on the money list with
$589,986 and has two second-place finishes this year. Some slump.
"I've had some pretty good finishes overall," Woods
said. "And it's not a bad thing if people say I haven't won
in eight months because that means they expect me to win that
much. So that's not too bad a deal."
Woods remains his own toughest critic. Back in January, he
rallied from eight strokes back to defeat Ernie Els in the Johnnie
Walker Classic in Thailand (not an official PGA Tour event). He
then got on a plane and flew 20 hours to Pebble Beach, but when
he arrived it was raining.
Most young players would have relaxed coming off a long flight
and a big victory. Not Woods. He jumped on a plane to Las Vegas
and spent six hours with Harmon working on his game.
"Even though he won, he wasn't satisfied with how he was
playing," Harmon said. "That tells you the type of player
he is."
"He's a perfectionist," Earl Woods said. "He
can't lose the edge. Complacency is what ruins a lot of people.
At 22, complacency is the kiss of death. You have so far to go
when you're 22."
Harmon has been working with Woods on better control of his
irons. He has made Woods' swing more compact. Unlike last year,
when Woods hit some "zingers"--he flew balls over the
green--he says his distance control is much better this year.
Earl Woods says he has taken over the putting part of Woods'
game, his one possible weakness. Tiger, Earl maintains, got caught
up listening to too many people. He picked his moment and gave
Tiger his assessment.
"If you know him, you know he is extremely stubborn,"
Earl said. "I finally told him, ÔThere's no way you
can putt if you listen to every Tom, Dick and Harry. The only
one who knows how you putt is me.' I gave him a putting lesson
after the third round of the Johnnie Walker, and the rest is history."
Earl believes Tiger's putting is coming around. Even if it
is not as sharp as it could be, Earl says his son has the game
to overcome occasional lapses. He believes Tiger has grown mentally
on the course. He sees a different player than last year.
"He's less flamboyant in his approach," Earl Woods
said. "He understands the importance of grinding. Now he
can turn a 76 into a 70 simply by grinding. He didn't have that
last year. He's more mature on the course."
Maturity off the course is a little more difficult to measure.
As Woods has said, people forget that he barely is of legal drinking
age. A fishbowl existence isn't so easy when you are used to being
a Tiger in the wild.
Woods talks often with his new friend "Mike," as
in Jordan, perhaps the only other person in the world who knows
what he is going through.
"(He says) ÔI can try to help you as much as I can,
but you've still got to find your own way to handle it because
each and every person handles it differently,' " Woods said.
"I feel I've done a pretty good job so far."
Woods continues to limit his media accessibility to a pretournament
news conference and after-round chats. In an effort to open him
up more, his handlers arranged for an informal session with a
small group of golf writers in December.
It's hard to say if it worked. Woods seemed tired and bored
during a recent worldwide teleconference advancing the Masters,
limiting some responses to cliches. He hardly was forthcoming.
It turns out that the teleconference was the last of several media
sessions he had that day and he might have been talked-out.
But this is another area in which he could learn from Jordan,
whose savvy in dealing with the media contributes to his overwhelmingly
popular image. Earl Woods wants his son to have a similar image.
He has preached to Tiger about his responsibility to the media
and the public.
"He is learning and understanding the role of reporters,"
Earl Woods said. "I've told him to learn about the reporters
who do a responsible job and cooperate with them. He's making
strides.
"His maturity level has increased. At 22, he's learning,
ÔHey, I'm an adult.' There have been changes from last year
to this year. He has a better knowledge (of the media) and a better
knowledge of himself. He's a young man evolving right in front
of us. It's beautiful to see."
The world will see how much Woods has evolved this week. He
knows the media crush will be tougher than any of Augusta's greens,
and he acknowledged he was not looking forward to it coming into
the tournament.
Then there are the expectations. Woods says he just wants to
win the tournament, but for many that's a foregone conclusion.
People are looking for him to dominate.
"Before he had nothing invested there," Earl Woods
said. "Now he is a part of its history. That's a big step
for a young man at 22. It will be interesting to see how he handles
it."
The father doesn't have any doubts. Last year he predicted
his son would win.
There's no reason for Earl Woods to change his outlook this
year.
"I don't want to put pressure on Tiger," he said.
"The pressure he puts on himself far exceeds what anyone
can put on him.
"Yes, I think he can win it again."
If Woods does, then the only number that will count Sunday
is two, as in two green jackets.
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