Next stop Muirfield

The golf was on the TV in the lounge at Greywalls, the cozy inn where Jack Nicklaus stays whenever he plays Muirfield, site of next month's British Open. It was on at the Nicklaus home in North Palm Beach, Fla., where the great man spent Father's Day with his children and their children. Thirty years ago there were no grandchildren, and his kids were still tearing around and Nicklaus, bell-bottomed and side-burned, won the Masters in April and the U.S. Open in June. The 1972 British Open was at Muirfield. For a month, all through golf there was one conversation: Can Big Jack win the Grand Slam?

Now that old question is new again. When Tiger Woods won at Augusta in April he became the only man who could win the Grand Slam in 2002. Now, with the annual four-day mid-June grindfest concluded, he remains the only man who can win the Grand Slam in 2002. Two down, two to go. Five weeks from now we'll all be saying, Next stop, Hazeltine!

"Tiger will have an excellent chance at Muirfield," Nicklaus said on Sunday night, while Woods stood on the 18th green at Bethpage Black. "At Muirfield you have to think, you have to hit it straight, you have to play in every wind direction. It has everything except length. Sure he can win there.

"The guys chasing him don't have experience winning majors. Tiger's dominating. I was semidominating. The guys chasing me, the guys I chased -- Palmer, Player, Watson, Trevino -- they all had won majors. One guy chased Tiger on Sunday, Phil Mickelson. Phil's a wonderful player, but he hasn't won a major. That makes a big difference."

Come July 18-21 at Muirfield, Tiger will be chasing one man, a 62-year-old semiretired grandfather in Florida who won 18 majors in his day (which somehow lasted 25 years, from first major to last). Tiger has won eight majors in only six years. People are starting to talk about Tiger's growing bored, winning by three here (Bethpage), by 12 there ('97 Masters). Tiger will never grow bored, not as long as Jack's list is longer than his. Tiger's understanding of golf history is acute. More to the point, he seizes the day like nobody's business. Of course he won the 100th U.S. Open at the most beautiful course in the world, Pebble Beach, with the whole world watching. Of course he won the millennial British Open at the manger of the game, the Old Course. Of course he won last week on the longest, narrowest, publicest course in U.S. Open history. And of course he's going to win at Muirfield.

Here are the players who have won the Open at Muirfield since the end of World War II: Henry Cotton, Gary Player, Nicklaus, Lee Trevino, Tom Watson and Nick Faldo. Niclas Fasth could be the next name on that list, but don't bet on it. "I bet Tiger will watch tapes of me winning at Muirfield," Faldo said on Sunday. He won two of his three British Opens there, in '87 and '92. "We'll see if he's worked out the secret."

Nicklaus won the first of his three British Opens at Muirfield, a place he reveres to this day. In the mid-'70s, when he built a golfing settlement of fine homes and fine courses on a huge spread of farmland outside Columbus, Ohio, he named it Muirfield Village. Woods has won Jack's tournament there, the Memorial, three times. He understands the Nicklaus-Muirfield connection because he understands Nicklaus's career.

On Sunday at Muirfield, it rained for the 16th straight day. Rain, followed by sunshine, day after day. When Faldo won at Muirfield, the rough, he said, was "wispy." This year a Muirfield man, Gavin Corbett, was saying on Sunday, "the Muirfield rough is as thick as the Bethpage rough, but there's no American first cut." Hit the fairway or hack it out. Perfect for Tiger. He'll hit that two-iron all day long.

There's one final reason Woods will win at Muirfield next month. Thirty years ago Nicklaus didn't. Trevino beat him, by a shot, and there's no Trevino in the game today.

On Sunday night Woods was asked about Muirfield. "Right now I could care less about that," he said. "It's going to be awhile before I start working on my links game."

Tiger is an excellent golfer, but a very poor liar.

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