RealClearSports.com: Tiger Has Us Believing for Him, Anything Is Possible

By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

CHASKA, Minn. -- This is what greatness is, a young man with a swoosh on his shirt and purpose in his thoughts. A young man who has us believing that on a golf course anything is possible, because truth tell for him, anything is possible.

He's not even allowing for suspense this time. Not even needing to produce a comeback.

Tiger Woods went out Thursday and snatched the first-round lead in the PGA Championship, and in effect ended the competition after 18 holes, although there remain 54 left to play.

Woods, who usually starts slowly in a major, this time started quicker than anyone else. Woods, who usually is chasing -- and more often than not, overtaking -- this time is being chased.

He's gone through '09 without a victory in a major, even missing the cut in the British Open, but he's not going past Sunday, the PGA's final round, without one. Not the way he's performing.

You can rewrite the axiom. There is something else definite besides death and taxes: Tiger Woods with a lead in a major.

"I feel pretty comfortable if I'm playing well," said Woods. He's playing well, believe me. He's playing spectacularly. He's playing like Tiger Woods.

Tiger has five victories already this year. And he didn't even enter a tournament until February, inactive for eight months while recovering from the ACL surgery on his left knee in June 2008.

Not long ago, May, even June, impatient with his lack of progress, we were wondering what was wrong with Tiger, wondering if he'd make it back to where he was, towering over golf. We have our answers. Tiger again has his game.

He won two weeks ago at the Buick. He won last weekend, if in a controversial ending, at the Bridgestone Invitational. And almost certainly he'll win this weekend, adding a 15th major to a total, which at age 33 will put him only three behind the career-record 18 of Jack Nicklaus.

Bad weather is coming. That was the forecast. A big wind, a sweep across the prairie, across the rolling country that used to be farmland. Could it be any more forceful than Tiger Woods crushing a golf ball, crushing the opposition?

When Woods and the other two in his threesome, Padraig Harrington, the defending champ and a shot behind Tiger, and Rich Beem, were on the green of the par-five 606-yard second hole, a ball came bouncing toward their feet. It was hit by the Spaniard Alvaro Quiros, his second shot.

"He apologized," said Tiger. "Nothing to apologize for...to hit it that far is phenomenal. I used to be able to move the ball (like that). Not anymore. I just plod my way around, shoot 67."

Tiger, the guy who walks with his head down, who almost never acknowledges a congratulatory yell or a friendly wave, was having fun. The confidence is nearly palpable. He can toy with the opposition. He can jest with the media.

Whatever happens -- and the thought is something good will happen, as it usually does when Tiger is in full flight -- Woods has a new perspective. A year ago, he still was recovering.

"I was just trying to walk without a brace," he recalled. "I wasn't very good at it but trying to get a bit of flexion at the time. And walking in a pool and all those things. But I couldn't do much of anything."

He can do virtually anything he wants now. On Thursday he got around a course listed at a ridiculous 7,674 yards but in actuality probably set up 150 to 200 yards shorter, without a bogey.

"Yeah," he conceded, "I played really well. I hit a bunch of good shots, and this round could really have been low. I missed a bunch of putts."

No sympathy will be extended. Golfers always talk about what might have been. But for us there's no need. We reflect on what was. For Tiger that would be excellence, if not quite perfection.

He's not the only player on Tour, although sometimes the television ratings contradict that idea. There are other superb players: Harrington, who has three wins in majors; Phil Mickelson, although he struggled Thursday to a 2-over 74; Vijay Singh; Angel Cabrera; British Open champion Stewart Cink.

It's just that Tiger is in a league of his own. Years ago, when Jack Nicklaus set a ridiculously low scoring record at the Masters, the late Bobby Jones said of Jack, "He plays a game I'm not familiar with."

We're familiar with Tiger Woods' game. It's remarkable and dominant. But it's not good enough for Tiger. He may be the best, but he keeps trying to be better.

As a reporter since 1960, Art Spander is a living treasure of sports history. A recipient of the Dick McCann Memorial Award -- given for his long and distinguished career covering professional football -- he has earned himself a spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was recently honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the PGA of America for 2009.

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