Who's No. 1? The real question in golf is,
'Who's next?'
By Brad Townsend / The Dallas Morning News
AUGUSTA, Ga. -- The past year has made a lot of us look foolish.
Certainly, in the least, hasty.
After last year's Masters, it seemed a given Tiger Woods was
on the verge of becoming the world's most dominant golfer. But
the past year has proved that distinction is very much up for
grabs.
Lee Westwood is counting on it.
Westwood, a 24-year-old from Worksop, England, is golf's latest
in a seemingly endless line of up-and-comers. He has emerged not
only as a threat to dethrone Woods at this week's Masters, but
to continue a four-year major championship trend.
The past 13 golf majors have been won by 13 different players.
Moreover, the 32 major championships played during the 1990s have
produced 25 different winners.
Maybe we have been pursuing the wrong angle. Maybe it is fruitless
to speculate whether Woods can join Jack Nicklaus (1964-65) and
Nick Faldo (1989-90) as the only repeat Masters champions.
Maybe it would make more sense to speculate which player will
become the 14th straight new link in the majors chain. Could it
be Phil Mickelson, at last measuring up to his laurels? Colin
Montgomerie? David Duval?
Or Westwood, coming off his first PGA Tour victory at last
week's Freeport-McDermott Classic?
"Lee Westwood," said two-time U.S. Open champion
Ernie Els, "is big danger, man.
"I think it will be very difficult for him to come off
with a win at only his second Masters," Els said. "But
I'm sure he's going to win this tournament in the future. I mean,
he's got the game."
If American fans aren't familiar with Westwood, they should
be. He and Nick Faldo teamed for a 3-2 record during Europe's
Ryder Cup victory over the U.S.
Westwood finished among the top 30 in all four majors last
year, including a 24th-place tie at the Masters. During the past
six months, he has won four times worldwide.
Westwood mulled joining the PGA Tour this year, then decided
to remain, as he put it, "loyal to the European PGA Tour."
But during the past three weeks, as a Masters warm-up, Westwood
tied for 13th at Bay Hill, tied for fifth in the Players Championship
and won at New Orleans.
Suddenly, Westwood has accomplished what the 34-year-old Montgomerie
still is pining to do: win in America. Westwood admittedly is
intensely competitive, largely because when he was a kid, his
father refused to let him win at arm wrestling or anything else.
Westwood has climbed to 14th in the world rankings, and he
likes being compared with the game's best.
"It doesn't bother me," Westwood said. "Those
guys are the best in the world. Tiger Woods, Ernie Els, No. 1
and No. 2. You've got to sit back (and ask), ÔWhere does
that put me?' "
Westwood, like many of today's top young players, routinely
hits 300-yard drives and aggressive approach shots.
"We all knew from an international standpoint how great
a player he is," said Greg Norman, who lost a playoff to
Westwood at November's Australian Open. "He's long, got a
great touch. It's very healthy for golf, seeing a young kid like
that come along."
These days, it seems talented kids like Westwood are coming
along every month. And making major championships like the Masters
all the more difficult to predict.
"Five years ago, everybody in the media was talking about
how the PGA Tour was on such a demise," Tom Kite said Tuesday.
"All the guys winning tournaments were in their 30s and 40s,
and there were no young players.
"But it goes in cycles. There's no question right now,
there is a large crop of very, very good young players that are
taking you to the hoop every week."
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