Tiger may not be winning, but he's helping
others do just that
By TIM DAHLBERG AP Sports Writer
REDMOND, Wash. (AP) - Give Tiger Woods some credit, even though
he's been shut out in his last six majors.
Mark O'Meara does, and he has a green jacket and a British
Open trophy to show for it. So does Lee Janzen, who won his second
U.S. Open title in June at the Olympic Club.
Woods has not merely re-energized the game of golf. He's done
the same thing for the games of some fellow pros who might have
otherwise been content to win a tournament here and there and
live comfortably away from the fringes of greatness.
"He just wants to be the greatest player who ever lived,"
Janzen said Tuesday. "And when you see somebody with those
kind of aspirations you think, well, I certainly can expect more
of myself."
On the eve of the PGA Championship, which starts Thursday at
tree-laden Sahalee Country Club, the talk isn't just of Woods
and his chances of winning the final major of the year. It's also
about the influence his emergence on the golf scene has had on
his competitors.
Woods hasn't won a major since running away with the 1997 Masters.
He hasn't dominated week to week like some predicted. In fact,
he's won only one PGA tournament all year.
But look no further than O'Meara and Janzen, the winners of
this year's majors, to see that he has still had a huge impact
on the 1998 golf season.
"I think he's challenged the rest of us to maybe start
thinking a little higher and setting higher goals," Janzen
said.
Janzen set his goals high enough to win his second U.S. Open
in nine years as a pro. O'Meara, who had never won a major in
18 years, suddenly won twice at the age of 41.
Both are neighbors of Woods at the Isleworth Country Club in
Orlando, Fla. Both play practice rounds with him regularly.
And both seem reinvigorated by the presence of the 22-year-old
budding superstar.
"New blood has always tended to do that and I think it
always will," Woods said. "I think it's great for the
game because these guys obviously have a lot of game and they're
winning."
Woods likes to compare his impact on the tour to that of Michael
Jordan in the NBA.
"When Jordan came into the league right away and was just
flying everywhere and doing all his things, guys started to raise
their games up," Woods said. "I think that happens in
any sport."
While others have learned from Woods, he has also been doing
some learning himself. Though he has won only once this year,
Woods says his game has never been better, and neither has his
attitude, both on and off the course.
He showed that in last month's British Open, when he opened
with a 65 and then struggled in the rain and wind before coming
back with a final round 66 that left him a stroke out of a playoff
with O'Meara and Brian Watts.
Woods chipped in for birdie on his 71st hole, then sank a 30-footer
on the final hole, offering the first tantalizing glimpse since
his Masters win that he could win a second major.
"I feel very pleased with the progress I've made in the
last 14 months, not only as a player but as a person," Woods
said. "The biggest thing I've learned is just learning how
to play the game out here at this level."
Woods' game might not be exactly suited for the 6,906-yard,
par-70 Sahalee course that winds itself through towering trees
in this Seattle suburb.
It's the kind of course where drives of between 240 and 280
yards offer the prime landing areas. It's not the kind of course
where Woods can pull out his driver and boom shots to within short
iron distance on par-5 holes.
Sahalee has only two par-5s anyway, and Woods plans to keep
the driver in the bag through all 72 holes.
"I think that if I'm going to step on one, it's definitely
going to be the 3-wood," Woods said. "The driver really
doesn't fit here for me. Some of the points where I'm going to
land my ball is probably the narrowest point of fairway with my
driver."
While Woods may have to rely more in finesse than distance,
steady players like Janzen and O'Meara or straight hitters like
England's Lee Westwood figure to have an advantage in PGA.
O'Meara played 56 majors without winning one, but is now in
the improbable position of trying to become the first pro since
Ben Hogan in 1953 to win three majors in one year.
Woods himself believes it can be done.
"There's absolutely no reason why he can't win here,"
Woods said of his close friend.
One thing that does figure to change from the last two major
championships is the scoring. While even par won the U.S. Open
and put O'Meara and Watts into a playoff for the British Open,
it figures to be far back in the field here.
The only variable might be the weather, which has been hot
by Seattle standards and could firm up the greens.
"If the greens are soft, I think the winning score will
be around 8 or 9 under," Tom Watson said.
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