It’s back to the Big One chasing the big 18.
Forget all the pre-Masters talk of Tiger Woods being part of a power foursome that includes Vijay Singh, Phil Mickelson and Ernie Els. Woods has blown past them again.
Woods’ main competition again becomes Jack Nicklaus and his once unattainable-looking mark of 18 major championships. Woods now is more than halfway home, seemingly with a lifetime of golf ahead of him.
Woods was as dominant as ever Sunday, going wire-to-wire to win his second British Open at St. Andrews. His closest pursuer, Colin Montgomerie, finished five shots behind, and a virtually flawless 70 allowed Woods to enjoy the Scottish scenery during most of the back nine.
The victory makes Woods a member of a rather exclusive fraternity. With 10 professional victories in major championships, he joins Jack Nicklaus and Walter Hagen (11 titles) as the only players to reach the double-digit mark in the game’s most important category.
Woods, who also won the Masters in April, is back in full pursuit of Nicklaus’ magic number of 18 majors. At 29, he is ahead of Nicklaus’ pace–the “Golden Bear” was 32 when he won his 10th.
Even Woods allowed himself to be impressed.
“I mean, it’s pretty cool,” Woods said. “I’ve gone one past halfway. Jack’s got 18, and now I have 10. Honestly, when I first started playing the Tour, I didn’t think I’d have this many majors before the age of 30. There’s no way. Nobody ever has. Usually the golden years are in your 30s for golf. Hopefully, that will be the case.”
Nobody has ever had a better run in his 20s. This victory almost was as impressive as his eight-shot romp at St. Andrews in 2000.
With Nicklaus playing his last rounds in a major, Woods ran with the torch right from the first hole. Opening rounds of 66 and 67 set him up perfectly for the weekend.
However, unlike 2000, there were a few moments of suspense Sunday. Jose Maria Olazabal cut Woods’ lead to one with a birdie on the fourth hole. Scotland’s Montgomerie, riding a wave of native emotion, also pulled to within a shot when Woods made his first bogey of the day on 10.
Then it was over in a 90-second span. Nursing a two-shot lead, Woods knocked a wedge to 6 feet on 12, leading to a birdie. A few seconds later, Olazabal, playing with Woods, missed a par putt. Montgomerie, playing a hole ahead of the final pairing, made a bogey on 13.
Suddenly, Woods had an imposing four-shot lead. Game over.
“I didn’t know Monty made bogey ahead of me,” Woods said. “I saw Ollie struggle there, and I felt if I could make my putt, the momentum would be in my favor. And I was just grinding on that putt so hard. And I made it right in the middle, which is pretty sweet.”
It seemed almost inevitable Woods would pull away. When asked how hard it is to catch the No. 1 player in the world, Olazabal said it isn’t impossible, “but it’s close to impossible.”
“He played really solidly today,” said Olazabal, who had a 74. “Straight off the tee, he controlled distance very well. He missed a few birdie chances and still managed to shoot under par.”
As much as Woods enjoyed winning Sunday, he seemed even happier about the way he struck the ball. Despite winning seven majors from the 1999 PGA Championship through the 2002 U.S. Open, Woods broke from instructor Butch Harmon. He eventually decided to revamp his swing, hooking up with Deerfield native Hank Haney in March 2004.
Woods won only once last year, and critics questioned why he would tinker with success. But Woods said he needed to make changes to avoid getting his hands stuck behind him during his downswing, which was leading to all sorts of bad shots.
The alterations kicked in this year when he won the Masters, two other tournaments, and finished second in the U.S. Open. But Woods said he reached a new peak Sunday.
“I hit the ball so solidly today,” Woods said. “The golf ball was hit flush all day, every shot. It was one of those rounds that I will be thinking about for a long time. I’m very thankful it happened at the right time.”
Haney saw it coming.
“I’ve been waiting for this kind of ball-striking round for a long time,” Haney said. “I knew what he’s capable of doing because I’ve seen how well he’s been striking the ball [in practice]. I’m proud he stuck with what he’s doing. I’m proud of the commitment he made to his golf swing.”
Woods seems to have put himself on another level again. Despite Woods’ claim that the competition has evened out, the reality is that Singh, Els and Mickelson all have failed to mount a serious charge in a major this year.
Woods, meanwhile, is a balky putter shy of being in position to win the Grand Slam in a calendar year. If Woods had made a few more putts at Pinehurst, he probably would have overtaken Michael Campbell at the U.S. Open.
Woods declined to speculate on what might have been. He preferred to dwell on winning again at St. Andrews.
When Woods won in 2000, he completed the career Grand Slam, with victories in the Masters, U.S. Open, British Open and PGA Championship. Sunday, he hit for the cycle again, joining Nicklaus as the only other player to win every major twice.
Like Nicklaus before him, Woods is carving an important piece of golf history at St. Andrews.
“To have done both of them here, my first career Grand Slam, and then to complete the second at the same course, this is as special as it gets,” Woods said. “The home of golf. This is something you dream about. All the players who want to win the Open, automatically go right to St. Andrews. It doesn’t get any sweeter than this.”
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esherman@tribune.com
