Golden Bear interested in Tiger's career
By RON SIRAK / AP Golf Writer
DUBLIN, Ohio (AP) - Tiger Woods' 12-stroke victory in the Masters
made Jack Nicklaus' prediction a year ago that Woods would win
at least 10 times at Augusta seem a little less ridiculous.
And Nicklaus, the most successful golfer in history, seems
comfortable with handing over his crown if the time should come.
"If I am considered (the best golfer ever), then I had
to replace someone else," Nicklaus said Tuesday at Muirfield
Village, the course he designed for the Memorial Tournament. "Records,
as they say, are made to be broken."
While Nicklaus said "I don't see anything stopping him,"
he also noted that maintaining greatness over years is not easy.
Nicklaus, after all, won major championships 24 years apart.
"He's just starting his life," Nicklaus said about
Woods. "I'm really quite interested in seeing what happens
to him."
WOODS OR WOULDN'T
The PGA Tour can just about set its clock by Tiger Woods. He
does a Tuesday afternoon news conference at any tournament he
is in. Until this week.
Woods, who received $350,000 to play in a pro-am Monday near
Pittsburgh about 150 miles from here, told Memorial Tournament
organizers late Monday that he was flying home to Orlando and
would not get here until Wednesday.
That jaunt turned a 150-mile trip into a 3,000-mile roundtrip
to Florida.
Apparently after his fourth-place finish at the Colonial he
decided to go to Disney World.
DIVOTS:
The purse at the Memorial is $1.9 million with $342,000 going
to the winner. ... Tom Kite was the only member of the Bayer Aspirin
Strokes Against Stroke team to play last week, making nine birdies
and giving the team 123 this month. Bayer gives $1,000 to the
American Heart Association for every birdie Kite, Nancy Lopez,
Tom Weiskopf and Chris DiMarco make in May. This is the last week
of the event and Bayer hopes to surpass $150,000. ... Tiger Woods
is now No. 2 in the World Golf Rankings, passing Tom Lehman and
trailing only Greg Norman. ... Steve Elkington withdrew from the
Memorial because of the death of 1960 PGA Championship winner
Jay Hebert, a friend of his from Houston. ... The green ribbons
worn by players and caddies as a show of support for veteran caddie
Jeff "Squeeky" Medlen, who has leukemia, will be available
to the public this week at the Memorial. Ribbons will be given
out for a minimum donation of $5. The proceeds will be split between
the Jeff "Squeeky" Medlen Leukemia Trust Fund and the
Leukemia Society of America.
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