Monday, August 21, 2000
Tiger Woods caps `Triple Crown' with PGA
title
By Jimmy Burch
Knight Ridder Newspapers
(KRT)
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Move over, Ben. You've got company. Tiger
Woods is in the house, and he's here to stay.
Woods, a playoff winner Sunday at in the PGA Championship at Valhalla
Golf Club, joined Fort Worth legend Ben Hogan as the only professional
golfers to win three major championshps in one season.
Woods completed his version of the “Triple Crown” by
holding off Bob May with a birdie and two pars in a three-hole,
aggregate playoff. Woods, 24, forced the playoff by burying a
5-foot birdie putt on the final hole of regulation to join May
as the only golfers in history to reach 18-under par at the PGA.
For Woods, it marked his third consecutive victory in a major
championship and the third consecutive time he has recorded a
tournament scoring record on the way to hoisting the hardware.
Woods, who closed with a 67, posted sub-par scores in his final
14 rounds at major championships this season, with a scoring average
of 67.7 during that stretch.
“That is dominant,” said Tom Watson, who finished in
a tie for ninth at the PGA. “Tiger is doing things nobody
else has ever done. You are seeing a phenomenon that the game
may never, ever see again.”
Indeed, none of Hogan's victories during his 1953 “Triple
Crown” included a 72-hole score lower than 274 — four
strokes higher than Woods' total Sunday. But the fact that Hogan
won five times in six starts, including a 3-for-3 sweep in 1953
majors (he skipped the PGA), has caused some veteran observers
to wonder if Hogan hasn't been swept aside in a rush to esteem
Woods.
“People forget that Hogan did this, too. And that year might
have been even better than Tiger's year,” said Dave Anderson,
71, a columnist for the “New York Times”.
Dan Jenkins, renowned author and golfer writer from Fort Worth
who covered Hogan in his prime, said he places the two seasons
on “equal footing.” The merits of both accomplishments
may be debated, said Jenkins, but there's no question Woods' 2000
season and Hogan's 1953 campaign constitute two of the four greatest
years ever turned in by a golfer.
The other candidates would be Bobby Jones' “Grand Slam”
in 1930 (two professional and two amateur majors) and Byron Nelson's
11 straight victories in 1945.
“It's a toss-up between those four, depending on your perspective,”
said Jenkins, 70. “But what Tiger did is definitely one of
the greatest four years in golf history.”
Woods achieved his defining moment by shaking May, a career non-winner
on the PGA Tour, with a 20-foot birdie putt on the first hole
of the aggregate playoff. When he added two additional pars and
May could not answer with a birdie, Woods won for the fourth time
in the past five majors contested on the PGA Tour.
This victory, he said, was his sweetest in a major because because
May — who closed with a 66 — made the chase extremely
difficult.
“It was one memorable battle and I really enjoyed it,”
Woods said. “We never backed off from each other. It was
birdie-for-birdie, shot-for-shot ... That's as good as it gets,
right there.”
Indeed, the closing round included more plot twists than a Stephen
King novel. May, 31, took the lead on the second hole with a birdie-bogey
swing and never relinquished it during regulation. At the 72nd
hole, May drained a 15-foot birdie putt from the fringe that forced
Woods to answer with a birdie of his own to continue his historic
quest.
Despite falling a stroke short, May said the fact that he strung
together three consecutive 66s at Valhalla should prove “there
was no fluke” about his presence in a final-round pairing
at a major championship.
Woods said joining Hogan as a “Triple Crown” winner
made for “a special day.”
“I have a lot of admiration for a lot of great champions
that have played the game,” Woods said. “Ben Hogan won
so many tournaments, it's scary. He was incredible. He played
at a level that not too many players could ever attain.”
But Woods has attained that level three times this season. In
February, he became the first golfer since Hogan in 1948 to win
six consecutive PGA Tour events. Last month, Woods joined Hogan,
Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Gene Sarazen as the only golfers
to complete the career grand slam. Now, Woods and Hogan are the
only professional golfers with “Triple Crown” seasons.
In one regard, Jenkins said Woods has eclipsed Hogan.
“I never thought I'd live to see the day that a golfer would
be the world's most famous athlete,” Jenkins said. “But
I have. It's incredible.”
Incredible, of course, could also serve as an appropriate summation
for Woods' 2000 season. Or Hogan's, in 1953.
(c) 2000, Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Visit the Star-Telegram on the World Wide Web: www.star-telegram.com.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
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