Friday, August 25, 2000
The light switch is always on for Woods
By DOUG FERGUSON
AP Golf Writer
AKRON, Ohio (AP) — Maybe the thing about Jack Nicklaus that
motivates Tiger Woods the most is not what he won, but what he
said.
“You can't turn the switch on and off,” Woods said.
“Jack was probably the best at that. I always remember reading
that quote. He says, 'I've never turned the switch on and off.
I've always had it on.'”
Woods was on in the first round of the NEC Invitational on Thursday,
even if he felt a little off. Whatever the case, he had a 6-under
64 at Firestone Country Club and finished the first round one
stroke ahead of Jim Furyk.
Just by watching Woods, one might have guessed he was struggling
to keep it around par. No one could mistake the desire, though,
or even suspect that Woods was suffering a letdown from winning
the PGA Championship just four days before in a draining playoff.
“I drove it terrible on the back,” he said. “I
was able to keep it on the property, which is good. That's the
extent of it. I didn't hit the ball very well coming in, and consequently,
I didn't shoot the scores I wanted to shoot.”
What a pity.
All Woods did was go 7 under on the first 12 holes, flirt with
the course-record 61 — or better — and wind up with
his lowest first-round score of the year. All everyone else could
do was wonder.
“Get used to seeing Tiger's name up there every week,”
said Darren Clarke, who beat Woods in the Match Play Championship
final in February and was among six players at 66. “We're
all going to have to play very well again and see what happens.”
The NEC is for players from the Presidents Cup and U.S. Ryder
Cup team, plus the top 12 Europeans from the European tour money
list.
Lee Westwood of England, Phil Mickelson and Justin Leonard were
also at 66, while Ernie Els and recent Presidents Cup pick Loren
Roberts were in a group at 67. Twenty-one of the 37 players in
the field broke par on a Firestone course with greens softened
by overnight rain.
Twenty of them will be chasing Tiger — again.
Woods has built his year around the majors, and no one can argue
with the results. He became the first player since Ben Hogan in
1953 to win three majors in one year when he rallied to catch
Bob May with birdies on the last two holes, then beat him in a
three-hole playoff at Valhalla Golf Club.
Winning can be emotionally exhausting. Winning a major, especially
one like the thriller at Valhalla, can really lead to a letdown.
That's one reason Furyk was somewhat surprised to see Woods' name
racing up the leader board.
“I know I've had trouble after a win, coming back and playing
extremely, extremely well like that. And then to do after the
year he's had,” Furyk said. “But he's had a little more
experience after those wins. He knows how to handle it better
than I do.
“It obviously hasn't bothered him.”
What's left for Woods? More victories? More money?
In one of the few occasions where a golfer actually sounds like
a football player — or maybe even a construction worker —
Woods showed why talent alone hasn't taken him to new heights
in the game. He works hard, and he cares about every shot.
“The goal of the week is to win,” he said. “When
I'm not playing is the time to rest. When I'm playing this week,
it's time to work, and I'm trying to get myself in position to
win come Sunday afternoon.”
He got off to a good start.
Sure, he scowled at himself after his pitching wedge from 116
yards on the first hole wound up 20 feet behind the pin. All it
took was one hole for Woods to pick up where he left off. He hit
a 6-iron from 206 yards out on the par-5 second hole within 9
inches for a tap-in eagle.
He was in the lead after five holes and never gave it back.
The only lapse was when he got in trouble off the tee — a
par save from the rough on No. 9, another save from a shot off
a tree root on the 13th, and then a couple of mistakes from which
he couldn't recover.
On the par-5 16th, he put his wedge over the green into a bunker,
barely got out of the sand and had to make a 6-footer for bogey.
Then on the 18th, he went into the rough again, and his second
shot hit a tree, leading to another bogey.
With that, Woods went straight to the range and spent 30 minutes
working out the flaws.
Woods has already won seven times this year and $6.9 million on
the PGA Tour, breaking his earnings record from last year. At
this rate, he will shatter his record scoring average, too.
“They say we're playing for more money,” said Stuart
Appleby, who had a 67. “There is only one guy playing for
more money. He gets 18 percent of the prize. We get what's left.”
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