Monday, July 17, 2000
Woods returns 'home' to try
to make history
By DOUG FERGUSON
AP Golf Writer
ST. ANDREWS, Scotland (AP) - History is
not lost on Tiger Woods, who is out to make some of his own at
the home of golf.
Coming off the most dominant performance
ever in a major championship, Woods can become only the fifth
player to complete the Grand Slam by winning the British Open.
What better place than St. Andrews?
"That's something I would love to have
happen," Woods said. "And there's no better site for
it to occur than the home of golf. It's a very special place.
Every person who has ever played the game of golf has wanted to
win an Open at St. Andrews ... because that's where the game evolved."
The first documentation of golf at St. Andrews
was in 1552, when it was a game of hacking through bushes and
heather on a piece of links land that King David had given the
"auld grey toon" in 1123.
The Society of St. Andrews Golfers, which
later became the Royal & Ancient Golf Club, was founded in
1754. The Old Course is where 18 holes became the worldwide standard
for golf.
Woods first played there in 1995 as a 19-year-old,
only one U.S. Amateur championship on his resume. He returned
in 1998 for the Dunhill Cup, where in typical windy weather he
led the United States into the semifinals with rounds of 66-70-66,
the best score each day.
"I can stand there and see the shots.
They are framed by nature," Woods said. "I know what
I have to hit and how to do it."
Right now, no one is doing it better.
The U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, which he
won by a record 15 strokes, was his 20th PGA Tour victory, making
the 24-year-old player the youngest ever to win so often so quickly.
He has won half of those in the last 11 months, a stretch that
has separated Woods from the rest of golf.
His only real rivals now are the records
established by Jack Nicklaus.
The British Open is the one major that eluded
Nicklaus - briefly. In his fifth year as a pro, Nicklaus finally
won the '66 Open at Muirfield to join Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan
and Gary Player as the only men to win all four majors.
No one in the 34 years since then has completed
the Grand Slam. Only Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino, Tom Watson and
Raymond Floyd even had a chance.
No one has ever been on the cusp of history
at such a young age. Nicklaus was 26 when he won the British Open,
and this is only Woods' fourth year of playing the majors as a
pro.
Nicklaus' benchmark of 18 professional majors
looks more attainable every year.
"This issue is not whether he's playing
great golf now," Nicklaus said. "It's how long he's
going to be able to do that. How long will he keep the desire?
How long will he be able to keep his health? Only time will tell.
"I would be delighted to have Tiger
break my records," he said. "If he has the desire and
inclination to stick with it the next 15 years and work at it,
I'm going to be the first one there to congratulate him. I hope
I'm there to congratulate him."
But the coronation will have to wait until
four rounds are played on one of the most fickle pieces of property
in golf, a course that has bunkers visible only by looking back
from the green, and pot bunkers so deep that at times the only
safe shot is backward.
It has humps and bumps, ragwort and gorse,
and wind so strong that Nick Faldo once quipped, "Even the
sea gulls walk."
Woods recalls using a 2-iron and a 60-degree
wedge to reach the first hole, protected only by a strip of a
stream known as the Swilken Burn. The next day, he hit a driver
and a 4-iron.
"I played a practice round where I
played 18 straight holes into the wind, just because the tide
changed," Woods said. "That's the way that golf course
can play. I love links golf. You're going to get some good bounces,
some bad bounces."
Still, Woods acknowledges that St. Andrews
favors the big hitters, who can blow their drives over trouble.
Four of the par 4s can be reached from the tee, depending on the
wind. The defending Open champion at St. Andrews is none other
than John Daly.
But Woods probably will not have his way
with the field at the 129th British Open as he did at Pebble Beach.
Darren Clarke grew up on the links courses
of Northern Ireland and whipped Woods in the Match Play Championship
earlier this year.
Faldo is playing his 25th consecutive British
Open, the longest active streak. He finished seventh in the U.S.
Open, his best result in a major since 1996, and holds the record
at St. Andrews, an 18-under 270 in 1990.
Paul Lawrie, who became the first Scot in
68 years to win an Open on home soil, would like to make it two
in a row. But St. Andrews is nothing like Carnoustie.
Ernie Els is another links course specialist
who has played the Old Course the past eight years in the Dunhill
Cup.
"I'll go to St. Andrews with more confidence
this time," said Els, who tied for 11th in the '95 Open when
he was still trying to figure out all the nuances of the Old Course.
The Big Easy would like to avoid a Greg
Normanlike distinction - no one has ever finished runner-up in
three straight majors, and Els already has been second at the
Masters and U.S. Open, albeit nowhere near Woods at Peeble Beach.
Such a victory only built up the legend
that has become Woods. His opening act was an overwhelming performance
at Augusta National, where he won the Masters at 21 with a record
score (270) and by a record margin (12 strokes).
The U.S. Open took him to another level.
His victory was the largest in any major, topping the 13-stroke
win by Old Tom Morris in the 1862 British Open.
"If you put Old Tom Morris with Tiger
Woods, he'd probably beat him by 80 shots," Els said.
Old Tom Morris became head greenskeeper
of the Old Course in 1864 and kept a shop across the 18th green
that remains today. Woods will pass by on Sunday afternoon, perhaps
on another march toward history.
"As a young player, I was always told
that to be a good golfer is one thing," Nicklaus said, "but
to be a great golfer is to win at St. Andrews."
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