Tuesday, April 7, 2009

TIGER FIRE BURNS BRIGHT AS EVER

TIGER FIRE BURNS BRIGHT AS EVER


One son, one daughter, one Swedish model wife, two good knees, 14 majors, countless millions in the bank. What more could Tiger Woods possibly want?

The answer is another Masters title next Sunday and after that, at least four more majors.

Woods's reaction to the 16-foot birdie putt which won him the Arnold Palmer Invitational last week said it all.

He is as pumped-up as ever and still hungry for the quintet of victories which will take him above Jack Nicklaus and leave nobody in any doubt about who is golf's greatest-ever player.

Now he returns to the Augusta National course where his name is already stamped into history.

Twelve years ago, aged 21, Woods competed in his first major as a professional and after going to the turn in 40 on the opening day - playing alongside defending champion Nick Faldo - he went on to become the youngest Masters champion.

Not just that, he did it with a record 18-under-par score and by a record 12-shot margin.

He has not matched either of those feats since, but he has not done badly. Further wins on the lay-out came in 2001 - he became the first player ever to hold all four majors at the same time - 2002 and 2005.

In the past three years he has come third, second and second and last April's runner-up finish to Trevor Immelman was achieved at a time when very few really knew how bad his left knee was.

Soon they did. He had an operation the following week, did not return until the US Open in June and after his staggering victory there underwent reconstructive surgery and was out of the game for eight months.

Now he is back and with a win in only the third event of his return he is back with a bang.

"You can understand when some of the older players haven't been in contention in a while and they come back and then all of a sudden they put themselves in contention and then they win," he said.

"You just remember how to do it. It hasn't been that long for me, but you just have that feel of what to do and it's a matter of getting it done.

"It feels great. As I look back at my three tournaments I've played this year, I've got better at each one and the whole idea was to keep progressing to Augusta."

Woods's rivals might like to be reminded that he has won "only" two of the last six majors he has played in.

The fact that he has finished second in three of the other four, however, tells you that whenever he is around it is hard to take your eyes off him.

That has always been the case since his golf-changing 1997 display.

Padraig Harrington remembers being interrupted in church that year by a fan wanting to discuss Woods.

And he spoke recently about how Woods's score is always hard to avoid.

"He's created that and he deserves that little advantage that he gets," said the Open and US PGA champion. "Tiger has a presence."

Sergio Garcia was asked last week about Woods's apparent ability to will a putt into the hole.

"He's able to do that when it matters the most, down the stretch, more than the rest of us - and that's why he's a little bit above us, I guess," commented the world number three.

The long injury lay-off brought Woods back to the chasing pack on the world rankings, but he did what he had to do to deny Garcia the chance to overtake him in his second event back and by winning at Bay Hill, Phil Mickelson was denied the opportunity in Houston this weekend.

Woods doing what he has to do. Nothing new there.


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