Monday, July 24, 2000
Woods goes for the claret jugular,
wins easily
By Hunki Yun
The Orlando Sentinel
ST. ANDREWS, Scotland—During the first
years of this annual tournament that dates back to before the
Civil War, the winner of the British Open received a small sum
of money along with championship belt. The belt was an ornate
accessory, proudly worn by the champion golfer of the year.
The winner got to keep it for a year then
had to bring back before the start of the following year's tournament,
but there was a provision in the rules that said if a player won
the tournament for three consecutive years he would get to keep
it.
Obviously nobody really believed that could
happen. Because after Young Tom Morris won his third consecutive
Open in 1870 and took home the belt for good, they had no replacement.
So the championship had to be canceled for
1871, while both the ruling body and Morris' fellow players regrouped.
Perhaps golf needs the same sort of respite
now.
Because this is getting silly.
Tiger Woods did not even seem to play well
at the British Open. He hit the ball well, putted well and thought
well during four rounds over the Old Course at St. Andrews. But
he also made some mistakes and no part of his game stood out this
week. Certainly, superlatives weren't in common use this week.
But by the time his 4-foot par putt fell
on the 18th green in the final round, he had broken several more
records—and the spirit of his competition.
“I guess I could play as good as I
could this week but I wasn't going to win,” Els said. “Even
if I really played as good as I could, I don't think I would have
got to 20 under like Tiger.”
With his final-round 69, Woods shot 19-under
269. It set a new mark for strokes under par in a major championship,
eclipsing the previous standard of 18 under that he shot at the
1997 Masters and Nick Faldo shot at the 1990 British Open, also
at St.Andrews.
And when he birdied the par-5 14th hole
on Sunday, Woods became the first player ever in major-championship
history to reach 20 under at any point.
Despite a bogey on the 17th hole, Woods
won by eight shots over Ernie Els and Thomas Bjorn.
With his win, Woods became the youngest
to win the career Grand Slam, joining an exclusive group that
includes Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus.
“Those are true champions right there,”
Woods said. “They have won numerous, countless tournaments
really. They've been the elite. And to be I guess in the same
breath as those guys makes it very special.”
It is a difficult feat, and Woods is not
ready to take all the credit.
“I hit some bad shots out there for
the past four days but they ended up all right,” Woods said.
“That's what you need. You need to have luck on your side.”
Woods must be the luckiest guy in the world.
If he weren't already a multi-millionaire, he should buy a lottery
ticket this week.
Luck explains a little, but it doesn't explain
how he dominated his Grand Slam winning events.
Not even Hogan or Nicklaus could have envisioned
the way anyone could win golf's four majors the way Woods did—the
Masters by 12 shots, the U.S. Open by 15 and the British Open
by 8. Only last year's PGA Championship, where Woods won by one
shot, provided any sense of competition.
“He has raised the bar to a level that
only he can jump,” five-time British Open winner Tom Watson
said. “He is something supernatural and the young man is
playing golf supernaturally.”
If only Woods could take his game to a different
world or dimension. For now, the rest of golf has to try to find
a way to deal with his dominance.
The good news is, Woods won't be playing
every PGA Tour event, and even when he does, he isn't always sharp.
He showed that at the Western Open two weeks before the British
Open, where he finished 23rd.
But with one feat behind him, Woods now
will be going after the ultimate goal—Nicklaus' record 18
major championships. He will resume the chase at the next major,
the PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Ky.
Although not as long as the year off Scottish
golfers had in 1871, today's top players will regroup in several
weeks at Valhalla to try to keep Woods from becoming the first
player since Hogan in 1953 to win three majors in one year.
Before they do, they might not want to know
the following.
When the Open was resumed in 1872, Young
Tom won it again.
(c) 2000, The Orlando Sentinel
(Fla.).
Visit the Sentinel on the World Wide Web at http://www.orlandosentinel.com/. On America
Online, use keyword: OSO.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
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