Friday, September 1, 2000
No one has ever played at Tiger's
current level
By David Teel
Newport News (Va.) Daily Press
During the final act of Tiger Woods' historic
U.S. Open performance in June, my phone rang. The voice at the
other end was, to say the least, exercised.
“Are you watching this guy?” the
voice bellowed. “I'm telling you, he's the greatest player
of all time. Look at that, there's Ernie Els. He's one of the
best players in the world, and he's in second place FIFTEEN shots
behind.”
The voice belonged to Curtis Strange. Two-time
U.S. Open champion Curtis Strange. Ryder Cup captain Curtis Strange.
Unabashed Tiger fan Curtis Strange.
Last week, Strange and I spoke again, this
time after Tiger's harrowing playoff victory over Bob May at the
PGA Championship, his third major championship of 2000. It will
be interesting, I mentioned, to see how much gas Tiger has left
in the tank for the World Championship event at Firestone.
“As good as he is,” Strange said,
“he can't have much left.”
Tiger had plenty left. Facing an elite 36-player
field, he ended all suspense with opening rounds of 64 and 61
before coasting on the weekend and winning by an outrageous 11
shots.
And that's the thing about Tiger. It's not
just that he wins. It's how he wins. He breaks opponents' hearts
in man-to-man showdowns (May and Sergio Garcia at the last two
PGAs, David Duval at this year's British Open). Or he breaks records
by epic proportions.
So make no mistake. Real life (injuries,
marriage, kids, burnout) may keep Tiger from rewriting all the
records, but no one, absolutely no one, has ever played at his
current level.
At age 24, Tiger already owns the scoring
records at all four major championships. His five major titles
the 1997 Masters, `99 PGA and 2000 U.S. Open, British Open and
PGA have come by a combined 36 shots.
Jack Nicklaus won 18 professional majors
by a combined 44 shots.
Tiger's three majors in one year, a feat
matched only by Ben Hogan, are more than Greg Norman, Fred Couples,
Ben Crenshaw, Tom Kite, Davis Love III, Lanny Wadkins, Phil Mickelson,
Paul Azinger, Strange and Duval have won in their careers. His
23 career victories are more than Raymond Floyd, Gary Player,
Hale Irwin and Julius Boros.
Tiger has won eight tournaments each of
the past two years, and he's not done in 2000. Tom Watson never
won eight tournaments in a year. Neither did Nicklaus. Arnold
Palmer did it once, in 1960. The last man to win 10 was Hogan
in 1948.
When Tiger arrived on the PGA Tour full
time in 1997, Norman was the career money leader with more than
$10 million. Tiger may earn more than $10 million in prize money
this year alone.
Everyone says Tiger is the new Michael Jordan,
a true global superstar. That's probably true, and like Jordan,
Tiger's work ethic (no one on Tour is more obsessed with practice
and conditioning) is unappreciated by the masses.
But Tiger's numbers are more reminiscent
of Wayne Gretzky and Wilt Chamberlain, athletes whose statistics
defied convention. Gretzky made 200-point hockey seasons the standard
and became the NHL's career scoring leader at the ripe old age
of 28. Chamberlain, in 1961-62, averaged 50.4 points, 15 more
than Jordan ever managed.
This year, Tiger's Tour-best stroke average
of 67.68 is an unheard-of 1.69 lower than runner-up Els. His Tour-high
$7.69 million in earnings is more than double second-place Mickelson.
And the scary thing is, Tiger is getting
better. Two years ago, he ranked 147th on the Tour in putting
average. Last year he was 24th. This year he's No. 1.
The only negative I can conjure up about
Tiger is his choice of automobile endorsements. Buick? Come on.
My 77-year-old mom drives a Buick. If Tiger drives a Buick, my
mom shoots par at Pebble Beach.
(c) 2000, Daily Press (Newport
News, Va.).
Visit dailypress.com, the World Wide Web site of the Daily Press
at http://dailypress.com
and on America Online at keyword “dchr.”
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
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