Woods has everything, mechanics, all phases of game
Tiger Woods has taken golf to a height of excellence never reached before, not by Old Tom Morris or his son Tom Jr., not by Byron Nelson, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Arnold Palmer or Jack Nicklaus.
Think, for a moment, of the millions of people around the world who play golf and there is just one who is the best. And there’s no argument.
Lee Trevino used to say “The Man upstairs doesn’t give any one every thing” and he noted the absence – a missing short game, uncertain putting, an errant driver – in a number of top players.
But Woods has every thing, all the mechanics, all the physical attributes, all the phases, driving, iron play, short game and putting, course management and unmatched desire and the ability to make the big shot or the big putt when the game is on the line.
He did it on the 18th at Dubai, did it against J.B. Holmes in the first round of the Accenture Match Play when he was three down with five to play and he did it on the 18th at Bay Hill with a slippery, big-breaking 25-foot birdie while Palmer watched approvingly after praising Woods for four days while sitting in on the Golf Channel and NBC telecasts.
Palmer said Tiger can slam the four majors and that he can double anything he had done. This after Tiger passed Palmer’s record of 62 Tour victories with his Match Play victory and tied Hogan’s 64 with the Bay Hill victory.
Along the way Woods has drawn golf’s biggest galleries and its best television ratings.
But, saying all that, Tiger hasn’t and I don’t think ever will, match the warmth golf fans feel for Palmer. That isn’t in Tiger’s personality. He doesn’t work the rope line signing autographs and no one has signed more than Palmer. The fans are Palmer’s oxygen and that never has changed.
When he played his first U.S. Senior Open in 1981 at Oakland Hills, a woman telephoned the tournament office and said she wanted tickets “for the Arnold Palmer tournament.”
When Palmer stopped his black Cadillac at the bag drop at Dearborn Country Club early in the week of the 1990 Senior Players Championship, a huge crowd materialized seemingly out of thin air. Arnie popped the trunk, took out his bag and stood and signed and signed and signed. That never will happen with Tiger.
When Palmer was in heavy rough at Inverness in the 2003 Senior Open and failed to advance the ball more than a couple of yards, his usual big gallery groaned and one said “That’s all right, Arnie. We still love you.”
It’s hard to believe Tiger ever will play senior golf, but then Nicklaus wasn’t enthusiastic about it, but he did play and did win. And Tiger’s personality matches Nicklaus’ more than Palmer’s.
He has Palmer’s fire, but isn’t quite the risk-taker now that Palmer was. It was good to hear Palmer’s answer in one of the weekend NBC sessions with Johnny Miller and Dan Hicks how he’d do against today’s players. “I’d kick their butts,” Palmer said and then laughed.
It doesn’t seem as though there is anyone today on any of the tours who could say that, and do it. Not Rory Sabbatini, not Stephen Ames, not Woody Austin and not Ian Poulter.
Woods will lose eventually. Maybe at Doral, although the south Florida course has been like a home course for him. Like Torrey Pines. Like the Augusta National. Like Cog Hill.
There’s no one like No. 1. He’s been on Tour just 12 years, is 32 years old and has won 64 times, four of them this year and he feels as though he’s playing better than in 2000 when he won nine times including the U.S. and British Opens and the PGA. He’s nine victories behind Nicklaus who won his last at the age of 46 and 18 behind Sam Snead who won his last at age 53.
Woods is a joy to watch. Imagine being able to watch Michelangelo sculpt, Da Vinci paint, Mozart compose. Woods is as much an artist at what he does as they were. And he’s getting paid a whole lot more.
From No. 1, drop way, way down to… No. 569 on the World Golf Rankings. Two-time major championship winner John Daly. Begging for sponsor exemptions and then spending a 2˝-hour rain delay at Innisbrook in a party tent, getting canned by swing coach Butch Harmon because of it, blowing his pro-am tee time at Bay Hill and thus DQ’d from the tournament after Palmer gave him a spot in the field. Big John just doesn’t get the picture.
Talk about Trevino’s Man Upstairs line. Daly’s the Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz – no brain. Great talent, big heart, no brain.