There is no doubt in my mind that, for better or probably for
worse, Tiger Woods is back. Jack Nicklaus’ major record is again
seriously threatened.
Forgive in advance the first-person nature of this post that is
not about me but about Woods, but the frame of reference might be
important in assessing this judgment. Anyway…..
I have always said and written that I am neither a Woods fan nor
a Woods hater: I admire some of the work he does with children and
admire his evident and sincere respect for personnel in the
American armed forces, but on the other hand I have always found
him cold and insufficiently gracious and usually find myself
rooting against him, and never have actually
rooted for him except in a Ryder Cup or
Presidents Cup. I find it incredibly frustrating that his
competition through the years has performed like relative pygmies,
folding like not just cheap suits but like threadbare suits thrown
into a heap in the corner of a college bachelor pad. Unless I
missed one somewhere, NEVER has somebody running even with or
behind Woods on the final few holes made birdies to beat him; the
only two who have even hit great shots to hold him off from a
position in front of him were Hal Sutton at the Players one year
and Y.E. Yang in the PGA when Tiger himself was stumbling a little.
Aside from that, the only two others even to hang really tough with
Woods in a major rather than hiccuping badly were journeymen: Bob
May at a PGA and Chris DiMarco at a Masters, both of whom of course
lost to him anyway.
Compare that to the Nicklaus’ record of repeatedly having people
step up and beat him with great putts and chip-ins: Trevino did it,
Watson did it, both multiple times. Compare that to Nicklaus
beating all-time greats or near-greats so many times: Palmer second
to him four or five times in majors, Miller, Weiskopf, Bruce
Crampton, Ballesteros, Norman, Kite, all finishing second to him in
tight races. The best players of Tiger’s era, though, haven’t
really challenged him, with Mickelson second to him only once in a
major, Duval second to him only once, and only Ernie Els a serious
challenger multiple times when Woods was at his best. Also compare
Nicklaus’ 19 second-place finishes in majors to Woods’…. what, is
it now just six, or 7, seconds?
Finally, compare what happened when Nicklaus was in relative
slumps: Other greats stepped up and won multiple majors: Trevino,
Player, and others. When Woods was in his two extended slumps,
almost nobody stepped up to fill the void. Vijay Singh won one
major and lots of other tourneys early last decade (and two
earlier majors), but didn’t make major runs (like Trevino did to
Nicklaus) when Woods was transitioning to Hank Haney’s
teaching. And now, in the four years since Wood’s last major (or
actually starting several majors before that), I think the stat is
now that 19 different people have won the past 19 majors. Even in
his absence, nobody steps up. His fiercest rivals have four
(Mickelson), three (Els and Singh and Harrington) majors, while
letting folks like Todd Hamilton, Rich Beem, Ben Curtis, and Shaun
Micheel take home majors; compared to Nicklaus vying with Palmer
(seven), Player (nine), Watson (8), Trevino (6), and Floyd (4).
In other words, I think there are many ways in which Woods has
had it easy, in terms of competition. I think I won’t ever root for
him until I actually see people step up and beat him, pass him, in
the clutch in a couple of majors and see how gracefully Woods deals
with it.
All of which is prelude to this: When watching the final round
of the Memorial yesterday, I could tell rather quickly that there
was something familiar about this Woods, something we got used to
seeing from 1997 through 2008, and something that has been missing
ever since Woods drove into a fire hydrant: His force field seemed
to be back. When very hot playing competitor Rickie Fowler started
imploding (he ended up shooting 84!!!!) very quickly, that was a
sign that the “choke when around Woods” phenomenon was back.
Even halfway through the round, though, I thought somebody else
might win yesterday, but already had planned to write a blog about
how Woods — with his new, ugly, but repeatable swing (first on the
tour, and at the Memorial, in fairways hit!)— would win the coming
US Open, and win it big.
But nobody else really stepped up to the plate. When Rory
Sabbatini, finally with the lead, promptly hit a godawful 5-wood to
badly miss the par-5 15th green, it was all so familiar.
And, as Woods looked over a really tough chip from
behind the 16th green and an announcer said he would be lucky to
get it within even six feet of the hole, …
…I was pretty sure what was coming. “Oh, sh**,” I
said aloud, to the empty room. I got off the sofa, moved right up
next to the TV so I could see better (there was glare in the room),
and said to myself: “Six feet, hell, dammit, he’s gonna make it.” I
just knew it from his body language. It looked like his old self,
like he looked in chipping in on 16 to beat DiMarco, like he looked
in chipping in on the 14th at the Memorial a number of years ago,
like he looked as his lined up a 50 footer on 17 at the
TPC-Sawgrass (“better than most, better than most…. better than
most!”) — and he looked just like Tom Watson looked on the 71st
hole at Pebble in 1982.
There was almost no doubt in my mind, even as Woods’ club was
making contact with the ball, that it would do anything other than
go in. Nor did I have any doubts that Sabbatini would do anything
other than make bogeys coming in.
Woods hits amazing shots — all the credit in the world to him
— and others splutter like choking dogs.
Again I say, with apologies to Mickelson and Els and Singh, that
Woods is playing in an age of relative pygmies. Mickelson is
today’s equivalent of Billy Casper, not of Arnie or Player. Els is
today’s equivalent of, maybe, Ray Floyd, not of Watson or Trevino.
Okay, Singh is overall more accomplished as a regular player
(ignoring a senior tour career he obviously hasn’t had yet) than
Hale Irwin or Johnny Miller, but not by much — and he is no Seve
Ballesteros. But where are the Hubert Greens, the Weiskopfs, the
Kites, the Crenshaws, or even the Dick Stocktons, of Woods’ era?
Hell, the last three World Number Ones have zero (Luke Donald),
zero (Lee Westwood) and one (Rory McIlroy) major title between
them, and McIlroy is prone to horrible stretches like his current
three consecutive missed cuts.
All of which explains why Woods, with his mojo back, might have
nobody really able to stand in his way as he pursues Nicklaus’
record of professional major titles.
Or does anyone really think Bubba Watson or Dustin Johnson or
Keegan Bradley has the makings of another Tom Watson?
Methinks not. And methinks the great Jack Nicklaus eventually
will be forced to hand his crown to a growling, fist-pumping Woods,
who will accept Jack’s gracious handshake with some
less-than-dignified line, such as what he said to Nicklaus
yesterday: “Thanks, buddy.”
Golf deserves better.
