Woods wins at Bay Hill, just one part of great first half of 2000. Allsport.
A month ago at Pebble Beach, it seemed as though Tiger Woods was playing a different tournament that the rest of the field in the U.S. Open. In some respects, he has been playing a different tour all year.
There's the PGA Tour. And then there's the Tiger Tour.
No, he doesn't win every week. His tie for 23rd in the Advil Western Open was his first finish out of the top 20 in a stroke-play tournament in 16 months, dating to the 1999 Bay Hill Invitational.
He doesn't own the rights to every dominant performance, every
sensational comeback, every unforgettable shot. Still, everyone and
everything else has become little more than a warm-up act.
"There are a lot of great players out there who aren't getting
any credit because Tiger is taking it all,'' Nick Price said.
Heading into theOpen, the only reasonable manner in which to review the first half of the season is to distinguish
between Woods and the best of the rest:
BEST STREAK
Tiger Tour -- Woods won his sixth straight at the AT&T Pebble Beach
National Pro-Am, the longest streak since Ben Hogan won six in a
row in 1948.
PGA Tour -- Notah Begay won in back-to-back weeks, the first player to do that since Woods won three weeks in a row way back in '99.
BEST PERFORMANCE IN A MAJOR
Tiger Tour -- Woods pulled away on the back nine of the U.S. Open.
On Friday. He finished at 12-under 272 -- no one else broke par --
and his 15-stroke victory broke the record set in the '62 British
Open. That's 1862.
PGA Tour -- Vijay Singh. OK, there's only been one other major.
Still, his third round in The Masters was as good as anything Woods did in the U.S. Open -- a 2-under 70 in the nastiest conditions ever
at Augusta National.
BEST COMEBACK
Tiger Tour -- Seven strokes down with seven holes to play, Woods
goes eagle-birdie-par-birdie to win by two over Singh and a
stumbling Matt Gogel at Pebble Beach in February.
PGA Tour -- Inspired by being paired with Woods at Pebble Beach,
Jim Furyk rallies from six strokes back with seven holes to play to
overcome Franklin Langham at Doral.
BEST SUNDAY FINISH
Tiger Tour -- Woods holed a sand wedge from 99 yards for eagle and
closed with a 63 in the GTE Byron Nelson Classic, his lowest final round ever as a professional. Alas, he missed a three-way playoff by one shot.
PGA Tour -- Dudley Hart birdied the last four holes to win the
Honda Classic, the same tournament where Jack Nicklaus birdied the last five holes to win in 1978 (when the tournament was named Jackie Gleason's Inverrary Classic). Only Hart never tacked this up on his bedroom wall.
BEST SUNDAY CLOTHES
Tiger Tour -- Red, or some variation.
PGA Tour -- Does anyone but Jesper Parnevik have the courage to
wear hot pink pants? And keep a straight face?
WORST COLLAPSE
Tiger Tour -- Just three strokes behind in the Nissan Open, Woods
closes with a 1-over 72 and finishes in a tie for 18th. It's the
only time in 12 tournaments this year he has shot over par in the
final round.
PGA Tour -- Els had a three-stroke lead over Stewart Cink in the
MCI Classic, but played the final 11 holes in 5-over.
WORST TEMPER
Tiger Tour -- TV microphones caught Woods cussing up a storm when
he pulled his drive into the ocean on the 18th at Pebble Beach.
PGA Tour -- TV cameras caught Craig Stadler slapping his ball away
from the hole at the Shell Houston Open after he missed a putt to extend his four-hole playoff with Robert Allenby. At least he waited for it to stop moving.
BEST SHOT
Tiger Tour -- Tied with Ernie Els on the 18th hole in the Mercedes Championships, Woods hit his approach into the 663-yard hole to about 12 feet and made the putt for eagle.
PGA Tour -- Els followed and hit a 2-iron inside Woods, then buried
the eagle putt on top of him to force a playoff.
BEST SUNDAY SCORE
Tiger Tour -- Woods's 8-under 64 was the lowest final round by a
champion in the history of the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.
PGA Tour -- Mickelson shot a 2 to win the BellSouth Classic. Of
course, he only played one hole in a rain-shortened playoff over
Nicklaus. Gary Nicklaus.
WORST TV DECISION
Tiger Tour -- The CBS affiliates who chose not to show Woods's
dramatic comeback in the Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
PGA Tour -- CBS, which chose the "Jesus'' miniseries over the
final hole of a playoff between Davis Love III and Parnevik in the
Nelson Classic.
VICTORY DROUGHT
Tiger Tour -- Twice this year, Woods has gone all of three tournaments without winning.
PGA Tour -- Love has now gone 52 tournaments without winning.
