August 16, 1999
Tiger's win of PGA Championship should silence the skeptics
By Mike Kern
Knight Ridder Newspapers
(KRT)
MEDINAH, Ill. — So maybe now, you think all those folks who
kept pointing out what Tiger Woods hadn't been able to do for
them lately can find some other future Ryder Cup captain to dump
on? Paging David Duval.
Several back-nine hiccups aside, what Woods completed Sunday by
winning the PGA Championship at Medinah Country Club should mute
the unconvinced — at least until the next time he goes 28
months without capturing a major.
That's what happens when you tame Augusta National before you're
old enough to rent a car. After that, a third-place finish at
last year's British Open (one shot out of a playoff) or another
third at this June's U.S. Open simply doesn't do it anymore. They
don't talk about the 19 times Jack Nicklaus was a major runner-up.
Or his nine thirds.
So it didn't really matter that Woods had four wins (and five
top fives) in the last seven months. Except, of course, to his
bank account, which must surely have been treading water before
that. He's been stalking history, ever since he won his three
straight U.S. Amateur titles. And there's only four chances each
year to gain on it.
Consider the chase renewed. But not before he nearly changed his
name to Van de Velde. Funny. His bio didn't mention that he had
any French blood.
Nevertheless, Woods added a Wanamaker Trophy to his green jacket,
on a course that, at 7,401 yards, was merely the longest major
ever played at sea level. He went to the first tee tied for the
lead with Mike Weir, two in front of 19-year-old Sergio Garcia
and Stewart Cink.
Who would you have staked your 401K plan on? By the time he reached
the halfway point, Woods had made certain it was his tournament
to lose. Then he almost proceeded to lose it. But after watching
a five-stroke advantage evaporate to one, he parred the last three
holes for an even-par 71 that left him at 11-under 277, one better
than Garcia (71), somebody he figures to tangle with on a whole
bunch of Sunday afternoons to come.
If this was a preview, lucky us.
What else were we supposed to expect from the best closer this
side of Dennis Eckersley? This was the ninth time Woods has led
or been tied for the lead after 54 holes since turning pro. For
the eighth consecutive time, he got to hoist the hardware. But
not before things got more than a bit hairy coming in.
It wasn't the mind-boggling exhibition Woods put on at the 1997
Masters. But when he's totaling them up someday, they'll all count
the same. That's the way this posterity stuff works.
Harry Vardon won the century's first major, at the 1900 U.S. Open
at nearby Chicago Golf Club. If nothing else, Woods has provided
the appropriate bookend.
“It's nice to kick (the door) in (again),” said Woods,
who earned $630,000 for his trouble. “Getting No. 2 is a
more of a relief, because it means I won't have to keep answering
those questions any more.”
The golfer formerly known as Eldrick almost had a lot of questions
to answer. He was 15-under through 11, five clear of Garcia. But
he played the next two holes in 3-over, three-putting the par-4
12th and making a double bogey at the par-3 13th, where he airmailed
the green, wedged it off the other side of the putting surface,
chipped it past the cup and needed two putts to get down from
10 feet above the hole. He actually made a pretty good 5-footer
to save his five. In the group ahead, Garcia had birdied 13. The
game had just begun. Great stuff.
Garcia bogeyed 15, then made the shot of the week — a sliced
6-iron from the side of a tree trunk that landed on the back of
the green 189 yards away — to set up a par on the next hole.
He narrowly missed birdie tries at the last two.
Woods, after bogeying 16, where he hit an approach shot into the
front bunker, missed a 10-foot birdie attempt at 17. He then hit
his trusty 2-iron into the middle of the fairway, hit a 9-iron
12 feet away and left his putt close enough that Tony the Tiger
could've rolled it in.
When it was finally over, he looked utterly exhausted, in stark
contrast to the fist-pumping exhilaration he displayed in his
moment of glory at Augusta. All that remained were the hugs (in
order): his mother Kutilda; caddie Steve Williams; swing guru
Butch Harmon; Garcia; and his girlfriend, Stanford undergrad Joanna
Jagoda.
“It was a tough day,” said Woods. “It's always
nice to play when all the pressure's on the line. I didn't quite
get to the clubhouse the way I wanted to. I was just trying to
hold them off.”
Second-round leader Jay Haas (who closed with a 70) tied for third
with Cink (73). Weir shot 80 to finish in a six-way tie for 10th
at 3-under.
“I lost four shots, but I still had the lead,” said
Woods. “Sergio had the momentum, but he was still chasing
me. You have to expect your opponent to play his best. This was
a completely different situation (than the Masters). One was for
the record. That had far more social impact than this.”
It was hard to tell how much, judging from some of the (non-racial)
heckling that Woods was subjected to throughout what was otherwise
a glorious afternoon.
“They were getting on me pretty good,” Woods said. “I
didn't want to say something (back) I shouldn't have said. The
crowd was rooting for Sergio, as well they should have. But some
of the stuff was pretty tough. On 13, someone said, 'A thousand
dollars if you slice it in the water.' I didn't think that was
fair.”
Nobody said it has to be, especially at the top, which is where
Woods is once again perched, according to the official world rankings.
It's something anyone who sat through his TV-contrived “Showdown
at Sherwood” with Duval already knew.
But how about another rivalry, one that figures to last well beyond
Y2K? It's never to early to start dreaming about the Ryder Cup,
which is only five weeks away.
“I think there's a number of players around the world who
are about the same age,” said Woods. “It's very difficult
to pick just two. Maybe if you take us all collectively, on any
given week ... “
“I want to be No. 1,” said Garcia, who stole the show
in defeat. “So you know you have to beat Tiger. I almost
got him. But we'll always be friends, like today.”
Garcia is the youngest runner-up in the history of this event.
Woods, 23, is the fifth-youngest champion, and the youngest since
Nicklaus, whom he now trails by 16 professional majors, or 15
overall if you include the Amateur. He's also the youngest to
win his second major since Seve Ballesteros, Garcia's role model.
That was two decades ago. The future is upon us.
“Jack had won the Grand Slam by 26,” said Woods. “I
hope to do the same.”
Welcome to the next millenium.
(c) 1999, Philadelphia Daily News.
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