News Compass

Sunday, July 17, 2005

GOLF: He is THE Man!

18 July 2005

Read here original article in New York Times by DAVE ANDERSON at ST. ANDREWS, Scotland

Tiger Woods' 10 victories in pro majors and his three United States Amateur titles would match Bobby Jones's total of 13 majors won from 1923 to 1930.

Winning yesterday by five strokes at 14 under par at the British Open, he is more than halfway there after only 35 pro majors. Nicklaus needed 41 pro majors to win his 10th.

Even before he won his first major at the 1997 Masters, he was touted as a threat to surpass Jack Nicklaus's record of 18 pro majors.

And in Woods's ninth season as a pro, he has tied Jones's total, which Nicklaus tied in his 11th season.

"To get to 13 with Mr. Jones, he's the one that set the mark before Jack came around," Woods said.

"He had an unbelievable career. He cut it short, too," he said, alluding to Jones's retirement from competition at age 28, after his grand slam in 1930. "To win that many tournaments that early in his career is amazing. I've been very blessed to have had the luck and the fortune to win this many tournaments."

Take a minute to consider that Woods, at 29, has already earned his perch on a pedestal alongside Nicklaus and Jones. And if he were to win the P.G.A. Championship next month at Baltusrol in Springfield, N.J. - for his third major this year (he won three in 2000) - he would again match what Ben Hogan did in 1953.

In any evaluation of the best golfers ever, those are the four names, each from a different era, that will endure: Jones, Hogan, Nicklaus and Woods.

In the Roaring Twenties, Jones was golf's answer to baseball's Babe Ruth, football's Red Grange, boxing's Jack Dempsey and tennis's Bill Tilden. As an amateur who never turned pro, Jones won four United States Opens, three British Opens, five United States Amateurs and one British Amateur (at St. Andrews in 1930, when he also won both opens and the United States Amateur for his grand slam).

In Jones's era, when several of the best players remained amateurs rather than join what was then a fly-by-night pro tour, the two Amateur championships were considered majors.

If Jones's six victories in those two amateurs are considered part of his 13 majors over all, and Woods's three amateur titles give him 13 total, then Nicklaus, with United States Amateur triumphs in 1959 and 1961, has 20 majors over all.

Woods doesn't seem concerned by the constant reminders of his chase of Nicklaus's record.

"You know that it's going to take an entire career," he said, sitting next to the claret jug in the news media tent yesterday. "Jack took 25 years, I believe it was, to win all 18 of his. More importantly, what did he finish - 56 times in the top five, 19 seconds? I think that's more impressive than 18 wins."

Woods, who won here in 2000, and Nicklaus, who won here in 1970 and '78, are the only golfers of the modern era to win the British Open twice at St. Andrews. Three others did it long ago: James Braid in 1905 and 1910; John H. Taylor in 1895 and 1900; and Bob Martin in 1876 and 1885. Jones won it here once, in 1927.

If the British Open is awarded to St. Andrews in 2010, as anticipated, Woods will surely be favored to be the first to win it here three times.

"There are some courses you just feel comfortable on, and this is certainly one of them," he said. "I enjoy the lines here. You hear guys say, 'The lines fit you.' The lines certainly do. I don't feel uncomfortable over any shot, look-wise. I may hit bad golf shots; no doubt about it, I did this week. But as far as the look of the golf shot, I feel very comfortable around this golf course."

Woods will now prepare for the P.G.A. Championship, beginning Aug. 11 at Baltusrol, where Nicklaus won two of his four United States Open titles, in 1967 and 1980.

"Never played it," Woods said. "I just know that the last two holes are par-5's and 17 has been lengthened. I guess, to 900 yards. Uphill, into the wind." (No. 17 has actually been lengthened to 650 yards.)

If he were to win there, Woods would tie Walter Hagen's total of 11 pro majors. In the years before the Masters, Hagen won two United States Opens, four British Opens and five P.G.A. Championships.

And who is to say that Tiger Woods won't win the P.G.A. this year - after claiming a fourth Masters green jacket in a playoff with Chris DiMarco; placing second by two strokes to Michael Campbell in the United States Open at Pinehurst No. 2; and winning his second claret jug?

When Nicklaus was asked Tuesday what the winning score here would be, he said: "I don't know. What did Tiger shoot the last time?"

Somebody said, "Nineteen under."

Nicklaus said: "That's a good score. What did he win by?"

By eight strokes, he was told.

"That's a good score, too," Nicklaus said.

And when Tiger Woods won by five yesterday, that was a good score, too. Good enough to tie Bobby Jones.