Golf's new math: How many can Tiger win?
By RON SIRAK AP Golf Writer
IRVING, Texas (AP) - Not even Tiger Woods, a young man driven
by challenges, thinks Byron Nelson's consecutive victory record
is within his reach.
"There's some things in life that will never be broken,"
Woods said. "That's one of them. It's like DiMaggio's record.
I don't think it will ever be broken."
In 1945, Nelson won 18 PGA tournaments, including an astonishing
11 in a row.
On Sunday, Woods won the Byron Nelson Classic for his third
victory of the year and second straight, following his runaway
win at the Masters last month. Woods will try to make it three
in a row at the Colonial, which starts Thursday.
At the Nelson, Woods finished two strokes ahead of Lee Rinker
in a record-tying 17-under-par 263. He now has won has won five
times in only 16 starts as a professional.
Byron Nelson, the 85-year-old patriarch for whom the tournament
is named, spoke last week about Woods. Nelson sounded as if he
were describing his own swing when he analyzed the swing of the
21-year-old.
"He has perfect balance," Nelson said. "His
coordination from the feet up is all synchronized. And you've
got to feel through your sight. He does that great."
Woods was the youngest person ever to win the Masters, and
he had the greatest winning margin in any major championship since
1862.
Woods took four weeks off and then returned to win the Nelson
in a week in which he was rather ordinary, except for one magnificent
run Friday when he played the first 11 holes in 7-under-par.
Yet he won.
Why can't he win the Colonial in Fort Worth this week? And
then the Memorial the week after? And the U.S. Open two weeks
after that?
"Physically, I'm fine," Woods said. "But mentally
I'm pretty tired just because I had to really strain my mind to
keep me in the tournament."
Woods, of course, might not win the Colonial, not because he
doesn't want it badly enough but because his mind probably will
be on the Congressional Country Club, site of the U.S. Open in
June.
The Open is Woods' next big target in his bid for the modern
Grand Slam, golf's unreachable goal. No one has ever won the Masters,
U.S. Open, British Open and PGA Championship in the same year.
The closest was Ben Hogan, who in 1953 won all but the PGA,
which he skipped because of travel difficulties.
Still, one of the many compelling things about Woods is that
if he should happen to go into the weekend in contention at the
Colonial, he won't be able to stop himself from trying to win.
That's just his nature.
"I enjoy just being in the hunt," he said. "You
know, on the back nine, all the nerves, every shot really means
a lot, and the pressure mounts on you. That's what it's all about."
Woods displayed exactly that attitude Sunday in winning the
Nelson.
He was far from dominating, needing his up-and-down game many
times to save par. Yet he hit the big shots when he needed them
- a punch 6-iron from 170 yards to 8 feet off the edge of a drainage
grate on No. 15 and a 240-yard driver off the fairway on No. 16.
Woods' skill, desire and confidence is a combination that just
might mean that no record - not even those by Nelson - is beyond
reach.
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