9:59PM
SF Examiner: It's Tiger's U.S. Open to lose
9:59 PMBy Art Spander
Special to The Examiner
FARMINGDALE, N.Y. — Kobe one week, Tiger the next. From a large leather ball to a small dimpled one. From a hardwood court to soft fairways. From one champion to another.
The NBA playoffs, Kobe Bryant’s showcase, are done. The U.S. Open, Tiger Woods’ stage, is here, starting Thursday. What we got from Kobe — excellence, success — we’re expecting to get from Tiger.
“I like my chances in any major,” Tiger said Tuesday. We all like his chances.
The national championship, that’s what the Open is for golfers, a test of skill and will, an event of thick rough and high pressure where brains count no less than brawn.
“I just enjoy having to think your way around a golf course,” Tiger said.
This is the damp greenness of Long Island, 30 miles from Manhattan. This is where the Open went public for the first time when the 2002 Open was held at a muni, if you can call Bethpage Black a muni when it has a sign warning it is “An extremely difficult course which we recommend only for highly skilled golfers.”
This is where Tiger, or as crowds here pronounce it, “Ti-guh,” won and very likely could win again.
Some asked him, “In your opinion, who do you think at this point is the best golfer of all-time and why?”
“Jack,” responded Woods. He didn’t feel obligated to add, “Nicklaus.”
And Tiger? “He’s got 18. I’m at 14.”
Meaning major pro championships. Kobe is at four, meaning NBA championships, and Tiger, the Lakers fan, who grew up in Southern California, identifies with Bryant.
“His work ethic is phenomenal,” Tiger said of Kobe, as certainly Kobe could have said about Tiger.
“The hours he puts in, from just shooting on his own,” Woods pointed out, “to all the film study. Look at how he guides his team.
“That’s steady. That’s knowing the offenses, the defense you’re going against, basically all the chess pieces.”
That’s preparation, something of which Tiger prides himself.
Woods could become the first person ever with 10 U.S. Golf Association championships. He has three junior amateurs, three amateurs and three Opens, a total of nine.
Woods also could become the first to win back-to-back Opens in 20 years, since Curtis Strange in 1988-89 and the second in 70 years, Ben Hogan finishing first in 1950-51.
“Generally,” Tiger said of why the repeat is so rare, “this is the hardest major we face all year.”
Tiger took the 2008 Open at Torrey Pines in San Diego, also a muni, on a left knee so painful he winced after every shot. Surgery on the anterior-cruciate ligament a few days later kept him out of the game eight months and there were struggles after his return in February.
But he won the Memorial, Jack’s tournament, a week and a half ago, hitting every fairway from the tee in the final round, and Nicklaus not-so-boldly predicted Woods would win this Open.
Next year, the Open returns to Pebble Beach. In 2012, it’s at San Francisco’s Olympic Club. Every Open is different. Every Open is the same.
“You’ve got to grind it out and make pars,” Tiger said. “How you do is up to you.”
Tiger will find a way. As in another sport, Kobe found a way.
Art Spander has been covering Bay Area sports since 1965 and also writes on www.artspander.com and www.realclearsports.com. E-mail him at typoes@aol.com.
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Reader Comments (2)
Yay !!! More Tiger columns; I can't wait !!!
Loved this one, once again, as expected and is consistent,
you're right on.
Please keep writing.
Anyone needing a letter of support for your column, like a
newspaper or whatever, I'm still willing to write them to
encourage them to publish your columns/articles.
Take care ! Laura
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