Tiger Woods wins Byron Nelson Classic
By RON SIRAK / AP Golf Writer
IRVING, Texas (AP) - History seems to be a virtual blank page
in front of Tiger Woods and he is filling it in as he goes along.
Playing far from his best but better than anyone else, Woods
shot a final-round 68 Sunday to win the GTE Byron Nelson Classic
by two strokes over Lee Rinker, tying the tournament record with
a 17-under-par 263 total.
Woods started the day with a lesson from coach Butch Harmon,
who drove four hours from Houston after a late-night call from
his pupil, and ended it with an emotional hug from his mother,
Tida, on the final green.
In between he hit all the right shots exactly when they were
needed, the most astounding of which were a 170-yard punch 6-iron
from off the edge of a drainage grate to 8 feet on No. 15, then
a 240-yard fairway driver on the 16th hole that gave him the clinching
birdie.
"Playing like this means a lot to you, it really does,"
Woods said after winning with a game be rated as a C-plus effort.
"It goes to show that if you think well and you have a good
short game you can win."
Woods took the lead for good while he was walking down the
14th fairway and Rinker was making a bogey on the hole ahead of
him. No one else really made a run at the lead.
Tom Watson and Dan Forsman finished four strokes back at 267
and seven other players were at 268.
The final four holes were played in a tunnel of noise more
usually heard around here when Texas takes the field against Oklahoma
in a college football game.
But even that football game doesn't get the 100,000 people
tournament officials said were at the Nelson for the final round.
And Woods, with the victory in hand after the birdie on No.
16, let the wave of sound wash over him, responding with that
winning smile and waving almost shyly to the adoring crowd.
"It as hard not to," Woods said about acknowledging
the wild cheers. "It kept getting louder and louder as I
got closer to the greens."
When he boldly blasted the driver from off the fairway to the
fringe of the 16th green one man in the crowd screamed the deepest
thoughts of most in the gallery, bellowing: "Don't ever change."
For as much as his great play has captivated the crowds, so
has his aggressive style in which he plays with only one goal
- to win.
The victory followed his record-setting Masters triumph a month
ago and came after a four-week layoff.
"At Augusta, I was hitting the ball pretty good,"
Woods said. "That wasn't the case here."
But just like at Augusta, the victory by Woods on the TPC course
at the Four Seasons Resort could only be understood when compared
when placed in the broadest historical context.
Woods is now the second-youngest person in the history of pro
golf to get five victories. Horton Smith, who played in the 1920s,
had seven wins before he was 21.
But Woods' five victories in his first 16 pro tournaments is
unmatched. Smith won only two of his first 16 starts.
And three victories in eight starts this year puts Woods on
a path with the some of the best years ever. Jack Nicklaus won
seven of 18 in 1973. Jimmy Demaret won six of 12 in 1940. Smith's
best year was eight of 22 in 1929.
The best year ever was by Ben Hogan, who won five of six tournaments
in 1953, including the Masters, the U.S. Open and the British
Open.
The $324,000 first prize gave Woods $1,294,591 for the year
and put him on a path to break he single-season money record of
$1.7 million. The victory also gave Woods $2,085,185 in winnings
in just 16 tournaments - making him the youngest and the fastest
to get to the $2 million mark.
The previous record for money won in the first two years on
tour was $1.86 million by David Duval, and it took him 49 events.
Woods shot four consecutive rounds in the 60s at the Nelson,
but those were numbers built on a superb chipping and putting
game and he was far from crisp with the long game.
"I had only my mind and my short game," Woods said.
Fortunately he also had Harmon, the coach who has taken Woods'
swing to the next level.
"I saw him on TV last night," Harmon said Sunday
morning, "and it was the worst I've seen him swing in a long
time."
Harmon said the problem was all posture and they went to the
practice tee before the final round to work on it.
"I told him to get tall and stay tall," Harmon said.
Asked what it means that Woods can win swinging so poorly,
Harmon said: "It means he is the best player in the world."
That could be the page in the history book Woods is writing.
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