Tuesday, August 22, 2000
Next major target for Woods?
'01 Masters
By Jeff Shain
Knight Ridder Newspapers
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — In rolling to his
record 15-shot triumph two months ago at the U.S. Open, Tiger
Woods noted how odd it felt to be standing at the 18th tee knowing
all he had to do was remain upright to win.
Compare that with his mind-set coming to
the 72nd hole Sunday at the PGA Championship.
“You just knew you had to execute golf
shots,” Woods said. “I knew stepping up on 18 that I
had to make birdie to win the championship or force a playoff.
Par wasn't going to get it done.”
For his crowning act in sweeping the year's
last three major championships, Woods showed he didn't have to
make it a runaway to make it memorable.
One could even argue that Sunday's playoff
victory over Bob May was more impressive than Woods' solo romps
through the U.S. Open and British Open. If nothing else, it certainly
made for more gripping theater.
This time, breaking the tournament's scoring
record wasn't going to be enough. Somebody came with him, the
unheralded May, seemingly oblivious to the shadow Woods has cast
over the competition.
Neither golfer recorded a bogey over the
final 15 holes at Valhalla Golf Club, including the three-hole
playoff. Both shot 31 on the back side in regulation. One would
hammer home a crucial putt for birdie or par, often to see the
other come right back and drain his. Even when they found themselves
in trouble, both scrambled to keep the pressure on.
“It was a very special day, to have
two guys playing at a level that you probably don't see unless
you have the concentration heightened to where it was,” Woods
said. “We never backed off from one another.”
Woods joined longtime observers in comparing
it to the 1977 British Open at Turnberry, when Tom Watson and
Jack Nicklaus rained birdies on each other in a futile effort
to pull away. Watson won by a stroke, his 268 breaking what was
then the Open record by eight shots.
“I think Sunday has to go down as one
of the best duels in the game, in major championships,” said
Woods, who found himself down two shots with 12 holes left in
regulation. Woods never moved in front until a birdie at the first
playoff hole.
When he finally blasted out of a bunker
to within a foot of the pin the second time through No. 18 and
tapped in for par, Woods joined Ben Hogan as the only players
to win three Grand Slam events in the same year.
Hogan accomplished the feat in 1953, winning
the Masters, U.S. Open and British Open. Overlapping schedules
between the British Open and PGA Championship prevented him from
attempting the Grand Slam.
The PGA Championship brought Woods full
circle in more ways than one. In addition to matching Hogan's
feat, the 24-year-old phenom became the PGA's first repeat winner
since Denny Shute in 1936-37.
And in something of a symbolic passing,
Woods was Nicklaus' playing partner when the greatest golfer of
the 20th century played what were likely his final rounds in a
major.
Nicklaus shot 77-71 to miss the cut by a
stroke. He likely would have played the weekend if not for shooting
4-over in the tournament's first five holes. However, it should
be noted he was burdened by the death of his mother Wednesday.
After each round, Nicklaus heaped high praise
on the new generation's champion.
“I don't think I have ever seen anybody
do what he is doing that much within himself,” Nicklaus said.
“He doesn't have to extend himself at all to do what he is
doing.”
Asked to compare Woods to his own prime,
Nicklaus said: “At this point, what he is doing right now,
I think he is a better player than I was.”
The comment stunned some longtime Nicklaus
observers, who said it was the first time they had ever heard
him acknowledge someone else was the best.
More history possibly awaits at the Masters
next April. No player has won four straight majors under the current
configuration.
Bobby Jones achieved immortality in 1930
by winning the U.S. Open, U.S. Amateur, British Open and British
Amateur, a feat in those days dubbed the “impregnable quadrilateral.”
Since then, only Hogan has come close.
True to his form, Woods isn't letting his
focus waver much.
“It is so far away,” he said.
“If I win the Masters next year, completing the Grand Slam
would be a byproduct. I just need to stay focused on what I need
to do to get ready for that tournament, and hopefully my game
will be ready.”
(c) 2000, The Miami Herald.
Visit The Miami Herald Web edition on the World Wide Web at http://www.herald.com/
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
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