Monday, July 24, 2000
Woods composes poetry, rewrites
history at home of golf
By Rick Morrissey
Chicago Tribune
ST. ANDREWS, Scotland — They came from
under the ropes, avoided the marshals and jumped over or into
the Swilken Burn like steeplechasers.
The fans, by the thousands, wanted to be
part of Tiger Woods' relentless march down the 18th fairway and
toward history, and they seemed to understand that lingerers would
be left behind.
There is no end in sight to where he is
going. Woods took his heel to the rest of the British Open field
Sunday and kept walking, shooting a final-round 69 at St. Andrews
to complete his career Grand Slam in the golf equivalent of a
blowout. His tournament record of 19-under-par (269) was eight
strokes better than Ernie Els and Thomas Bjorn.
Woods joins Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player,
Ben Hogan and Gene Sarazen as a winner of all four majors. He
is 24, the youngest to win the Slam, and there's so much more.
“Those are the true champions right
there,” he said. “ . . . They've been the cream of the
crop. They've been the elite players—not only during their
time, but ever—to play the game. And to be mentioned in the
same breath as those guys makes it very special.”
Woods is not rewriting history so much as
he is composing poetry. How such power can be generated so gracefully
will be left for the swing doctors and the sports physiologists.
But to see Woods dominate the course where golf is said to have
been invented was to see a man completely in his element. And
to see such a young face standing in front of the Royal and Ancient
Golf Club was jarring, but somehow just right too.
He appears to the best golfer to evolve
out of a 500-year-old game.
“So far I've had a wonderful, wonderful
young career” is how Woods put it Sunday. He won the U.S.
Open in June by 15 strokes, the 1997 Masters by 12 and last year's
PGA Championship at Medinah Country Club by a measly stroke. And
now this.
Afterward, after he had dropped in a 6-foot
putt for par and officially dismissed the rest of the field, he
kissed the Claret Jug, which goes to the British Open champion.
Then he said, “Wow.”
Good choice of word. Woods held off an early
charge from David Duval, who collapsed down the stretch like a
house of scorecards. For all intents and purposes, the race was
over at the 12th hole, when Woods drove the green and two-putted
for birdie. Duval bogeyed that hole and the next to fall seven
strokes behind.
Duval had started out so well, and that's
what made his finish so painful to watch. Starting six strokes
behind Woods, he birdied four of the first seven holes to get
to 14-under and cut Woods' lead to three.
But Duval missed two excellent birdie opportunities,
on Nos. 5 and 10, and they were costly. His finish on No. 17,
scoring an eight after hacking away in the Road Hole bunker, was
the insult tacked onto the back injury he had all week. He finished
tied for 11th place.
All the while Woods was being his usual
precise, powerful self, taking advantage of birdie opportunities
when he had them and lag-putting for par when he didn't.
Wow. “It was a spectacular performance,
to say the least,” Duval said.
While shooting four straight rounds in the
60s, Woods did not have to hit from a bunker all tournament. There
are 112 deep, foreboding bunkers on the Old Course.
Some other indications that Woods is a beyond
a masterpiece in progress:
In his last 23 tournaments, he has won 13.
He is the sixth golfer to win the U.S. and
British Opens in the same year, and the first since Tom Watson
did it in 1982.
He is the first golfer in 28 years to own
three major trophies at the same time. Nicklaus was the last to
do it, winning the 1971 PGA Championship and the 1972 Masters
and U.S. Open.
Woods has been focused on making golf history
since he was a youngster. His father, Earl, put a golf club in
Woods' hand when the boy was still in a crib. Woods had goals,
but even he has been surprised by how quickly he has reached them.
When he turned pro in 1996, he envisioned
winning sooner rather than later. But this?
“I know I felt my game was good enough,
and I knew I had the drive to compete, but you need to have luck
on the way and have an opportunity to get a few bounces,”
he said. “ ... I felt I would contend in a number of major
championships. Would I win them? That's a different story.”
Like Nicklaus, who holds the record with
18 major titles, Woods has chosen to play fewer tournaments than
most other golfers in order to concentrate on the four majors.
“You know, I've been very fortunate
to have my game peak at the right times,” he said.
He also has been fortunate to hit the ball
farther than most people alive. And he has worked hard to give
himself a painter's touch around the greens. It all has merged
into the perfect package in the 25th year of his life.
Late Sunday, after a week of gorgeous weather,
the clouds rolled in and the wind blew off St. Andrews Bay. Sweaters
were unfurled and donned. It was true British Open weather, fit
for a champion.
As Woods came up No. 18, the fans fell in
behind him. A streaker ran onto the green and was taken away by
authorities. No matter. Woods was the king, and these were his
followers, on the trail of history.
The next major is the PGA Championship in
Louisville beginning Aug. 17. Walking shoes are suggested.
(c) 2000, Chicago Tribune.
Visit the Chicago Tribune on the Internet at http://www.chicago.tribune.com/
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
Start or Join A Discussion about This Story
Send the URL (Address)
of This Story to A Friend:
|
