Tiger could use composure, patience of Duval
By DOUG FERGUSON AP Golf Writer
ATLANTA (AP) - His name is on the leaderboard just about every
week, although he rarely goes home with the crystal. To watch
him hammer a drive, to hear the crisp sound of a purely struck
iron leaves no doubt he is one of the most talented player in
the game.
All Tiger Woods needs now is the belief that last year was
no fluke, the patience that even better things are to come.
"I know that over time, once I get this right, my whole
game will start to follow," Woods said. "It'll start
to fall into place."
And if Woods needs a case study, all he has to do is look at
the latest player to emerge as his chief rival: David Duval.
For nearly three years, seven runner-up finishes and a bunch
of other chances, Duval was hounded with questions about why he
couldn't win. There were times he lost a final-round lead, other
times when someone else simply played better, still others when
he couldn't make up enough ground.
With seven victories over the last 55 weeks, the best stretch
of golf since Tom Watson in 1980, Duval goes into the Tour Championship
at East Lake Golf Club this week with a chance to become the first
$3 million man in golf.
As much as anything, he attributes his sudden burst to the
years when he was spinning his wheels.
"I felt I would be the better for it," Duval said.
"In all honesty, the struggle to get through something like
that, you appreciate it more than if you did it real quick the
first time. I realized that it's not easy to win out here."
That's part of the burden on Woods.
He made it look so easy so quickly. He got his first PGA Tour
victory in just his fifth start, another two weeks later and then
a 1997 season that really raised the bar - four victories, including
his record-setting win at the Masters.
But heading into the last PGA Tour event of the year, Woods
has only one victory this year, the BellSouth Classic outside
Atlanta in May.
"The most difficult thing is the fact I have not gotten
as many Ws as I did last year, but I am right there every week,"
he said. "Last year, that was not the case. I would win or
I would be down the road somewhere. This year, I've been a lot
more consistent. You do what you need to do."
What Woods felt like he needed was to reshape his swing, particularly
his short irons. His swing plane is flatter, his control is better
than it has ever been.
His game is right there, waiting to cash in.
"I think his swing has always been very good, but it's
better now," Mark O'Meara said.
Woods proved that with his third-place finish at the British
Open, where he hit shots he didn't have in his bag a year ago.
In the Dunhill Cup at St. Andrews, he played some of the best
golf the Old Course has ever seen - 14-under through three rounds
in nasty winds. In the end, he cost the American team by missing
a short birdie putt on the last hole in a shocking semifinal loss
to Spain's Santiago Luna.
"I think Tiger Woods is going to win a lot of major championships
before his career is over," O'Meara said. "It's just
a matter of time before he wins again. I think he realizes that
his career ahead of him is a long career, and he has to learn
to pace himself and realize that he is going to struggle at times."
Woods says he has matured, but the frustration is still evident
on the course. On the 17th hole at Royal Birkdale in this year's
British Open, Woods missed a 10-foot birdie putt and slammed his
putter into the side of the bag.
"You're such a bad putter," he muttered to himself
through clinched teeth.
Now that the year is almost over, Woods is changing his tune.
He says he is more satisfied with his game this year than he was
a year ago. He has finished in the top 10 in his last seven PGA
Tour events, and 13 times for the year.
He is all over the hole, waiting for a putt to drop, hopeful
that one of these days it will.
"It's something you should not get discouraged about,"
Woods said. "You can't really fight it. You have to hope
to get there with enough chances where you eventually get some
wins."
Duval never experienced sudden success, nor did he - or anyone
else, for that matter - face the expectations placed on Woods.
But he knew his time was coming.
"I don't rush things," Duval said. "I let them
kind of evolve."
Woods is still a work in progress. If he can capture the composure
that carried Duval through three lean years, the dam will break.
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