Thursday, February 8, 2001
Tiger says he's right on track
By DOUG FERGUSON
AP Golf Writer
SAN DIEGO (AP) — The real reason for
what's been holding back Tiger Woods was finally revealed Wednesday.
It's the hair. He dyed it blond over the
holidays and hasn't won since.
That's all of three tournaments.
“Maybe I need to dye it back,”
said Woods, who might be the last person concerned that it's already
February and he still doesn't have a victory in 2001.
His hair color is back to normal. He looks
like the same player who won three straight majors and nine out
of the 20 PGA Tour events he played last year. The only difference
is the record, which is tough to top.
A year ago, Woods came to the Buick Invitational
having won six straight PGA Tour events, the longest streak in
52 years. Now, he has gone six straight tour events without winning
and everyone wants to know what's happened to him.
“What's happened is that he's still
the best player in the world,” said Davis Love III, who finally
broke out of a real slump — 0-for-62 — last week at
Pebble Beach. “He's in an unenviable position that when he
doesn't win he gets more questions.
“I've gotten a lot of questions in
the last two years. He's gotten that many in the last two months.”
The “slump” has two versions.
True, Woods hasn't won on the PGA Tour since
Sept. 10 in the Canadian Open, where he hit that 6-iron from 218
yards out of a bunker, over the water and right at a pin that
was best left alone.
Woods keeps his own record.
“I guess the Grand Slam doesn't count,”
he said. That was the four-man, 36-hole tournament in Hawaii the
week before Thanksgiving when Woods made eagle on the 18th hole
to force a playoff with Vijay Singh, then another eagle on the
first extra hole to win.
“I guess the European tour doesn't
count,” said Woods, referring to his three-stroke victory
in the Johnnie Walker Classic in Thailand the week after Valderrama.
“I haven't won in three tournaments,”
he said. “That's not a slump, not like some of these people
think it is. If I can go three tournaments and people call it
a slump, then I've actually played some pretty good golf.”
Woods has himself to blame for that.
He raised the expectations with one of the
greatest years ever in sports. Along with his nine victories and
three straight majors, he never went more than three PGA Tour
events without winning, and only three times finished lower than
fifth.
“It's not like I'm missing cuts,”
Woods said. “I'm right there. My worst finish has been 13th.
That's terrible, isn't it?”
But the one thing Woods has failed to do
in three tournaments his year is contend on Sunday. He was six
strokes back and never a factor in the Mercedes Championships,
and his tie for fifth in Phoenix left him 15 strokes behind, his
largest deficit in two years.
And he made three straight bogeys on the
front nine of Pebble Beach — the same nine that Love played
in 8-under 28 — to wash out any thought of another comeback.
Woods admits that his game is not as sharp
as it was last year, when just about every facet was nearly flawless.
The only change this week is a new driver
from Titleist, a 975EFS that Woods tested earlier this week and
plans to use on Thursday. And that's the one area of his game
that has been particularly strong.
“I feel like I'm driving the ball better
than I did at this time last year,” he said. “My iron
game is not as sharp. Obviously, I'm not making as many putts.
My short game feels about the same. I have the same drive, the
same anticipation of wanting to go out there and play well and
put myself in contention and hopefully win. That hasn't changed.”
This would be an appropriate place to do
that.
Woods has played the Buick Invitational
three times and has never finished worse than a tie for third.
He won in 1999 by going 62-65 on the weekend, and erased a seven-stroke
deficit in seven holes before Phil Mickelson pulled away for a
four-stroke victory.
That ended the streak. Now he is asked whether
he can end a “slump.”
“The second you think he's slumping,
then he wins by 15 that week,” Brad Faxon said.
The last time he faced questions along this
line was in 1998, when Woods won only once on tour while rebuilding
his swing. “I'm not that far off,” he said repeatedly,
and before long he rattled off 16 tour victories in his next 27
starts.
“It's close,” he said. “I
haven't played terrible. I've played actually pretty good. It's
just a matter of time.”
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