Monday, August 21, 2000
Woods, May have a history
By Hank Gola
New York Daily News
(KRT)
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Tiger Woods just keeps shooting down the
legends. Yesterday, he joined Ben Hogan as the only player to
win three majors in a calendar year. He also is ahead of Jack
Nicklaus' pace toward 18 major titles.
Then there is Bob May. When Woods was growing up in Southern California,
May, seven years older, was the hotshot in junior golf.
“He was the man,” Woods said, his voice still somewhat
in awe. “He could hit it long. Of course, I was just 12.”
Who knew then that Woods and May would battle down the stretch
of the 92nd PGA Championship? Better yet, who knew that May would
be the one guy to step up and finally challenge Woods in a major?
“I am not trying to toot my own horn but in some newspaper
articles, he'd say, `I am going to beat Bob May's records,' which
he pretty much proceeded to do,” May recalled.
“He kept saying it and doing it, saying and doing it, saying
and doing it. And today,” May said, pausing, “I thought
maybe this was my chance to get him back.”
May didn't beat Woods but he gave him everything he could handle.
He never backed down, never showed any sign of flinching.
Right down to the final playoff putt that curled just past the
cup, May proved a few things about his formerly anonymous self.
“I think this is fulfilling some expectations I have had
for myself,” he said. “You might say if I shot 62 today
and three 72s, it was kind of a fluke. But I shot 72 the first
day and then shot three 66s on a pretty good golf course. I think
if you shoot three 66s in a major, you should win.”
As a matter of fact, May's 72-hole total of 270 (18-under par)
smashed the PGA scoring record previously shared by Steve Elkington
and Colin Montgomerie at Riviera.
“I think I proved to a lot of people that I can play under
the heat,” May said. “I think I have a big heart. I
don't think people here were expecting me to do what I did. I
always thought I had a good game for the majors. When par is a
good score, I play pretty tough.”
May's only professional victory came last year in the British
Masters when he stared down Europe's top-ranked player, Colin
Montgomerie. Why Europe? May lost his PGA Tour card in 1994. His
win in the British Masters gave him an exemption into this year's
PGA. Next up was a 13th-place finish at the PGA Tour qualifying
school to regain his full-time playing privileges.
Not many people may have heard of May, but by finishing 11th in
the European Order of Merit, he proved to himself he had the game
to take on the world's best.
“I don't think you could come over here and not be ready
to play,” he said, “because you've got Tiger Woods,
David Duval, Ernie Els, you've got the best players in the world
over here.”
Yesterday, he took the lead from Woods with a 35-foot birdie putt
at the 11th hole and held the world's best player at bay until
the 17th with an impressive display of talent and determination.
“I don't feel like I won. Obviously, if I did, I'd have a
little different feeling,” May said. “But believe it
or not, I don't feel disappointed at all. I went out there and
played a good, solid round of golf. I just felt a little short.”
More amazing still, though, is that he never gave up.
(c) 2000, New York Daily News.
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Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
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