Tuesday, September 5, 2000
Woods outplaying his hype
By MICHAEL GRANGE
Toronto Globe and Mail
In the three years since he last came to the Bell Canadian Open,
Tiger Woods has managed what few would have predicted, even in
those heady days. His accomplishments are beginning to exceed
the hype.
No small feat when the hype portrayed Woods as a combination Nicklaus,
Hogan and Palmer. Someone who was going to turn golf, then the
world, on its ear.
His golfing exploits speak for themselves. There are any number
of facts and figures that highlight Woods's dominance in the past
15 months, a stretch during which he won 18 times in 28 starts
worldwide, including four major championships.
What does it all mean to the world at large? Well, who knows.
His father, Earl Woods, raised eyebrows in the early stages of
his son's career, calling him the Chosen One, predicting he would
have an impact on world affairs that was more like Gandhi's than
the Golden Bear's.
How and when that might happen is unknown, and if the 24-year-old
Woods has any insights, he's not telling. But his agent, Mark
Steinberg of International Management Group, doesn't offer a qualifier
when he calls Woods the “most dominant athlete in the world
today.”
For now, Woods is a pop-culture phenomenon, rather than a sociological
one; a modern-day Elvis, with the golfer getting the nod as having
the faster hips.
Like any pop star, Woods is a guaranteed draw. His decision to
play in the 2000 Open had fans from California calling for tickets
and people lining up at the Royal Canadian Golf Association offices
at Glen Abbey Golf Club in Oakville, Ont.
Unfortunately there was no wristband policy in effect, and for
the first time in 22 Opens at the Nicklaus-designed stadium-style
course, there will be a sellout. Approximately 150,000 fans are
expected to pass through the gates during the four rounds starting
Thursday.
“(The excitement) is not even comparable (to the past Opens),”
said RCGA tournament director Bill Paul, who granted Woods an
exemption to play in the Canadian Open in 1996, his second start
as a professional, and was lucky enough to have Woods in the field
again in 1997.
“There was a lot of hype and there were a lot of young people
out to see him, and there was a real energy around the golf course
in 1996, and in 1997 it was even bigger because he'd won the Masters
that year,” Paul said.
“But the reaction so far, I can't describe it, it's just
overwhelming. He's like Pele and Ali and Jordan. People just want
to be near him and see history.”
Woods's career arc has always been viewed in larger-than-life
terms. When he first appeared at Glen Abbey in 1996 he was a work
of hype in progress.
Only weeks into his professional career and one of the most talked
about amateurs in decades, Woods was faced with living up to the
expectations that came with the more than $40-million worth of
endorsement contracts he signed before he had put a tee in the
ground as a professional.
“There's no question about it. He's one of the best amateurs
around,” Tour veteran and 1983 Canadian Open champion John
Cook said at the time. “He has our respect, but he hasn't
shown us much yet.”
It didn't take long for Woods to deliver. He finished 11th at
that Open and was on his way to a remarkable fall in which he
earned two wins and three top-five finishes in his first eight
starts.
A year later, with the Open being played on the tightly lined
Blue Course at Royal Montreal, the Woods hype was at full roar.
His record-setting win at the 1997 Masters had seen to that.
But the narrow fairways of the old club did him in, as his wayward
drives found the deep, six-inch rough. He missed the halfway cut
for the first — and only — time as a professional.
What wasn't known then was that Woods was well into what can now
be considered his career's second stage — not quite a slump,
but a stretch during which he won only one Tour event, the 1998
BellSouth Classic, over a span of 19 months.
It was during that period — particularly in early 1999 when
he was briefly supplanted as the world's top-ranked player by
David Duval — that many assumed he simply had been humbled
by the game.
Woods would tell anyone who would listen that he was improving.
But without results to match his hot start, it didn't carry much
weight. At the same time, Woods was going through a period during
which he took greater control of his career and his image, distancing
himself from his father and his earliest advisers, and settling
on a lean, trusted group to manage his affairs.
The overall effort has paid off with his remarkable run, which
started with his win at the 1999 Memorial Tournament last May.
And it shows no signs of ebbing.
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, http://www.shns.com.)
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