By Herschel V. Caldwell
Tiger Woods opens his ’08 season with blowout win at the Buick
Tiger Stakes claim on US Open with the taming of Torrey Pines
Tiger sends message to USGA:
This course isn’t quite tough enough!
Tiger Woods’ victory at the Buick equals Arnold Palmer’s historic record of 62 PGA Wins.
Tiger wins four in a row at the Buick while the field fights for second place.
These and many others make excellent headlines the day following another tour victory by Tiger Woods. And the story behind each headline would make entertaining reading for golf fans, sports buffs and the casual observer of history in the making each time this young man enters the competition.
Starting the week at the always difficult South Course at Torrey Pines in San Diego, Tiger was only a couple of putts from sharing the first round lead held by PGA Tour Rookie, Kevin Streelman. Friday was the day Tiger played the easier North course and served notice of his impending domination of the week and preview of what the tour could expect from him in 2008. The conclusion of play on Saturday left no doubt as to the eventual outcome of Tiger’s 2008 debut. A solid 71 on Sunday was good enough for an eight shot victory over a promising young player by the name of Ryuji Imada
The details of Tiger’s rounds, number of greens hits, putts made, fairways hit, etc…can be found in many news service accounts of the week’s play.
Woods finished at 19-under 269 to win the Buick Invitational for the fourth consecutive year, tying a PGA Tour record for consecutive wins in a single tournament. Woods is the only player to own such a streak at two events, having also won four in a row at Bay Hill.
He won for the fifth time in his last six starts. Throw in his Target World Challenge at the end of the year, and Woods has won his last three tournaments by a combined 23 shots.
“I’m starting to get better,” he said. “I’m hitting shots that I never could hit before, even in 2000. People think, ‘Yeah, you played great.’ But I made everything. I’m actually hitting the ball better now than I did during that stretch.”
Ryuji Imada won the B-flight. He matched the best score of the final round with a 67 and was the runner-up.
“My goal going into today was to finish second,” Imada said. “That’s almost like winning the golf tournament to me.”
The real story behind the headlines is the one written before a career begins and the ones history writes after all is said and done.
Much has been said about how Tiger would put Jack Nicklaus’ 18 major victories on his wall as a youngster and used them as a goal for his own golf career. I’m sure along the way he also became aware of the other greats standing in front of his name in the record books. The first of these were the handful of African Americans before him to win a PGA event. Then came the first African American to compete in the Masters. Those early records seem small in the overall scheme of things now, especially since Tiger’s name is seriously considered as the greatest golfer of all time…not just for a person of color. After all at 32, there are only three legendary golfers in front of him: Sam Sneed, 82 PGA victories. (Sneed’s last victory was the 1965 Greater Greensboro Open) achieved at age 52. . Jack Nicklaus 73 PGA victories and 18 majors achieved at age 46. (Nicklaus’ last victory was the 1986 Masters). Ben Hogan, 64 PGA victories, achieved at age 47. Tiger (62) at age 32. Tiger 62 PGA victories, 13 majors at age 31. Tiger is tied with the legendary Arnold Palmer whose last victory was the 1973 Bob Hope Desert Classic; Palmer was 44 years old.
During the opening of the Tiger Woods’ complex at Nike, Tiger was asked
about his ultimate affect on golf, sports and the world community aside from golf. Tiger said: “He had not been asked the question before and that there has not been much thought given to his life after golf.” He went on to say that if he were lucky enough to match the achievements of the greats, he couldn’t see himself stopping there. After you have climbed Mt Everest, what else is there? You climb it again, and again, and again. The number of times he will have reached the top will come at the end of Tiger’s career, nobody knows and right now, that number is not the real story.
The real story lies beneath Earl Woods’ declaration in 1997 that Tiger is the “chosen one.” Was the late Mr. Woods speaking prophetically of Tiger’s ultimate accomplishments on the golf course?…even he (Earl) dismissed that idea as being very shallow. He saw something more significant in the future for his young and gifted son. His vision for Tiger was not confined to his abilities on the golf course.
The elder Mr. Woods never really articulated any specifics regarding the term “chosen one” as it related to Tiger. We can only employ the literary tool of conjecture to assist in an attempt to read the future of this great athlete during the balance of his golfing career and what might lie ahead for him after.
All this means is that the real story has yet to be written or rather the source and material for such a story is still evolving. Many will not be here to read the final chapters of that story, but we take solace in knowing that we are part of the millions around the world who has and are witnessing a phenomenal story being written before our eyes.
