Woods finds new perspective heading into this
year's Nelson
By Brad Townsend
The Dallas Morning News
(KRT)
It took 10 months, but Tiger Woods' trademark smile returned
Sunday. It was not, however, the youthful, exuberant smile we
had remembered. The expression behind this smile was one of relief.
By winning the BellSouth Classic at the TPC at Sugarloaf in
Duluth, Ga., Woods ended a drought of 16 PGA Tour starts without
a victory. He had not won a tour event since last July's Motorola
Western Open.
For most players, that would constitute a lull. But a player
of Woods' caliber doesn't get off that easy. His winless run was
portrayed as a prolonged slump. It brought a national chorus of
I-told-you-sos from those who believe he is more hype than substance.
When told Sunday that he looked more relieved than excited
after the victory, Woods replied: "I was.
"The only reason I won today is that I got some lucky
breaks. I haven't been able to get them all year. I got them last
year."
Now, for the second straight year, Woods will bring a winning
streak of one into the GTE Byron Nelson Classic, which begins
Thursday on the Four Seasons at Las Colinas' TPC and Cottonwood
Valley courses.
Last year, he was coming off his record-shattering, 12-shot
Masters victory. This year, his momentum is not as awe-inspiring.
He shot par-72 Sunday to hold off 39-year-old, one-time tour winner
Jay Don Blake by a stroke.
This time last year, Sunday struggles didn't seem to be a part
of Woods' makeup. He didn't seem to need lucky breaks.
This time last year, Woods was on the verge of winning the
Nelson with a record-tying 17-under score, despite what he conceded
was his "C-plus" game on Sunday. That win gave Woods
five victories during a 12-start span.
Few would have guessed that Woods would win only one of his
next 21 tour starts. Few would have foreseen that Sunday's BellSouth
would be the first time since last year's Nelson that Woods would
carry a lead into the final round.
At the rate Woods was going, many would have projected Woods
to have 10 or more tour victories now, including another major
championship, or two.
"You know, the guy is human," said Ernie Els, who,
entering the weekend, was ranked No. 1 in the world, ahead of
No. 2 Woods. "He won six or seven times in his first 16 months,
and that is phenomenal. But we are playing golf here. We are not
playing football or basketball or even baseball.
"You can't keep winning in this game. There's a lot of
other really good players out there."
The past 11 months and two weeks have proven that. It took
Woods that long to earn two victories, not counting his eight-stroke
comeback to beat Els in Thailand earlier this year in a European
tour event.
During the same span, eight other players have posted two or
more wins. Based on victories alone, David Duval (five), Els (three),
Davis Love III (three) and Dallas' Justin Leonard (three) clearly
have outplayed Woods during the past 11 months.
Even Woods admitted Sunday that the pressure to dominate has
become easier than last year.
"It has," he said. "I don't read what you guys
write anymore. I don't want to say that, but it is the truth.
I was there. I know what happened.
"I don't need another person's opinion of what happened.
So, because of that, I have been a lot better off and not as critical
of myself as I was. I'm just being myself."
It isn't as though Woods has plummeted to duffer status. Indeed,
he has been a more consistent contender this year (six top-10s
in 10 tour starts). And though his victory rate has slowed, Sunday's
win was his seventh in 36 tour starts. That winning percentage
(19.8) is more than Hall-of-Fame caliber.
But this much also seems clear: Woods lost his air of invincibility
last year. It happened about the time his approach shot to the
ninth hole splashed into the water during the final round of last
year's MasterCard Colonial.
Before the splash, Woods was tied with David Ogrin for the
lead. Before the splash, he seemed headed toward his third consecutive
victory. Instead, it propelled him to a one-year victory "lull."
Before Colonial, there was a belief - even among some players
- that Woods was so talented, so tenacious, that his presence
on the Sunday leaderboard meant almost certain victory.
That hasn't been the case during the past year. He led this
year's Nissan Open late in the final round but lost to Billy Mayfair
on the first playoff hole.
The following week, Woods trailed by only three shots entering
the final round of the Doral-Ryder Open, but he didn't record
his first Sunday birdie until the ninth hole. He double-bogeyed
the final hole and fell to ninth.
Last month, Woods was within striking range of a second straight
Masters title but shot 72-70 on the weekend and slipped to eighth.
"I think it's a great tribute to just how difficult this
game is and how many good players there are besides Tiger Woods,"
said Mark O'Meara, Woods' Windermere, Fla. neighbor and closest
friend on the tour. "I know everyone's saying he hasn't won
in nine months, but he'll win plenty of championships.
"My feelings toward Tiger will always be: 'Just go play
golf. You keep playing golf and maturing.' He hasn't come close
to reaching his potential physically or mentally."
O'Meara said he doesn't believe Woods' game has suffered from
excessive attention and expectations. Others, however, wonder.
Jack Nicklaus said the media focus on Woods is much more intense
than it was on Nicklaus at any point of his career. Nicklaus noted
that Woods probably is used to being in the national limelight
since it has been that way all his life. But he wonders whether
it will wear on Woods some day.
"He's got that issue, and the other issue he's probably
got is desire," Nicklaus said. "How long can he keep
fueling the fires to want to just win, win, win, win, win. How
many years can he do that?"
Perhaps Sunday's victory will be the impetus Woods needs to
return to his dominance of last year. Perhaps his drought was
part of a maturing process for a player who joined the tour at
age 20 and just turned 22 on Dec. 30.
Or maybe Woods' "slump" is more a case of other tour
players picking up their game, players who grew tired of reading
that Woods was taking over the tour.
Tom Watson certainly believes that was the case, and he believes
Woods will respond in kind.
"I think the score Tiger shot at Augusta last year was
a wake-up call to the rest of the professional tour," Watson
said. "It makes you say, 'This guy's really good. We have
to elevate our level of play.'
"That's what Nicklaus did when he came on tour and Arnold
(Palmer) was the king. I think that rivalry elevated the play
on the tour. We used them as benchmarks and standards. I think
the tour now is going to look at Woods and Els as the benchmark
and standard of how good you should be."
(c) 1998, The Dallas Morning News.
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