Tiger Woods fulfills his father's dream
By RON SIRAK AP Golf Writer
AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) - The smile on his face when he slipped his
arms into the green jacket told the same story as the tears in
his eyes when he hugged his father. Tiger Woods was Masters champion.
He had fulfilled a dream that began 21 years ago when Earl
Woods plopped his son in a highchair and had the boy watch him
hit golf balls in the garage.
But the way he accomplished it surprised everyone, including
Tiger Woods.
Well, almost everyone. Earl Woods always believed he was raising
the greatest golfer ever.
"I have predicted this," Earl Woods said Sunday after
his son became the youngest Masters champion.
"I knew it would happen a long time ago," Earl said.
"He just went out and brought the course to its knees and
beat it."
That he did.
Closing with a 69, Woods finished at 18-under-par 270, the
lowest score ever shot in the Masters and matching the most under
par by anyone in any of the four Grand Slam events.
His 12-stroke victory over Tom Kite was not only a Masters
record by three strokes, but the greatest winning margin in any
major since Tom Morris Sr. won in the 1862 British Open by 13
strokes.
The victory was an emotional climax to a mission started when
Woods could barely walk and his father first put a golf club in
his hand.
After making his final putt, Woods wrapped his arms around
his father - the man who taught him the game - and squeezed his
eyes desperately tight as he fought back tears.
Then he moved to the side and gave his mother, Tida, the kind
of embrace only a son could give.
"What I think every time I hug my mom or pop after a tournament:
It's over, I accomplished my goal," Tiger Woods said. "To
share it with them is something special."
Try to think of another major championship winner who hugged
his parents on the final green instead of his wife and children.
It's just another way in which Tiger Woods is unique.
Sometimes Woods' talent is so overwhelming it's easy to lose
sight of how young he is.
The way he overwhelmed Augusta National Golf Club made it clear
that Woods is much more than the first minority to win a major
professional golf championship. He might be the best golfer ever.
"I don't know about that," Woods said. "But
I know that my goal obviously is to be the best. I know that is
a very lofty goal. But I think that as time goes along, that will
happen."
The list of accomplishments for Woods is staggering. Three
consecutive U.S. Junior Amateur championships, three consecutive
U.S. Amateur championships and now four victories, including the
Masters, in only 16 tournaments as a pro.
Even the once seemingly impossible mark of 20 major championships
by Jack Nicklaus is now vulnerable.
Woods has won major championships as an amateur and a pro in
seven consecutive years, bettered only by the eight-year string
Bobby Jones had in 1923-30.
And he is the youngest to win a major championship since Gene
Sarazen won the U.S. Open and the PGA Championship at 20 in 1922.
The Grand Slam - winning the Masters, U.S. Open, British Open
and PGA in the same year - is not out of the question for Woods,
and breaking the record low score of 59 for a competitive round
could be only a matter of time.
There were times when Earl Woods spoke of his son that it sounded
like the mere bragging of a parent. No more. Tiger Woods is everything
he was advertised to be - and maybe more.
Now Earl Woods has another prediction about his son.
"As he matures, he will get better and better," he
said.
That is a scary thought.
"And by the way," the father said, "he will
get longer."
Tiger Woods getting better? Tiger Woods hitting the ball longer?
It seemed absurd.
Then again, so did a 12-stroke victory in the Masters.
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