Forget about the power and
the precision, or even the deadly touch around the greens. The success of Tiger
Woods can be traced to what he did the week before the U.S. Open.
He wasn't on a golf course,
but on a river in Utah, fly fishing with Mark O'Meara. Once a novice with a fishing
rod, Woods was casting like a pro with nearly flawless loops.
''He kicked my butt,''
O'Meara said today. ''He doesn't like to lose at anything.''
What amazed O'Meara was
not so much the competitive nature of Woods, but how much he mastered in such
a short time since they first started fly fishing.
''He is an expert at processing
information,'' O'Meara said. ''He takes in only what can make him better and manages
to discard the old. He always wants to learn how to get better.''
That explains why Woods
decided to rebuild his swing, step by step, after winning the Masters by 12 strokes.
That explains why the best player in the world spends more quality hours refining
his swing instead of celebrating where that swing has brought him.
And that explains why Woods
arrived at Southern Hills as such an overwhelming favorite that oddsmakers have
turned this U.S. Open into Tiger against the field.
''Would I put money on
me? Probably not,'' Woods said. ''Just because I don't think it would be a good
business decision with those odds.''
Then he paused, sensing
his remarks could be interpreted the wrong way.
''Now, do I like my chances?
Yes, I do.''
What's not to like?
The only tournament Woods
has failed to win in the last three months was the Byron Nelson Classic, when
he returned from his longest layoff of the year and showed signs of rust. He closed
with a 63 and tied for third.
When it comes to the majors,
Woods has no peer. His two-stroke victory at the Masters gave him an unprecedented
clean sweep of the majors. The opportunity that awaits at Southern Hills is to
become the first player ever to win five in a row.
Bobby Jones won four straight
majors - all in 1930 - when they were the U.S. Open, U.S. Amateur, British Open
and British Amateur. Young Tom Morris also won four straight majors, but that
was from 1868-72, when the British Open was the only major.
''I'm not trying to win
five, I'm trying to win one,'' Woods said. ''Whatever I've done in the previous
four majors isn't going to help me hit any shots out here. I'm not going to have
an out-of-body experience and sit there and watch myself hit a shot.''
Any more, it seems like
that's what everyone else has been doing - watching him, wondering what it will
take to beat him in the most important championships.
This week figures to be
no different.
A year ago, O'Meara played
a practice round with Woods at Pebble Beach on the eve of the U.S. Open and declared
to friends that the tournament was over. He was right, as Woods turned in perhaps
the greatest performance in history to win by 15 strokes.
O'Meara isn't going to
declare this Open to be case closed. Then again ...
''He's primed to play well,''
O'Meara said. ''I wouldn't hesitate at all to say he'll be in the last two groups
on Sunday. I don't see any weaknesses in his game.''
Mark Calcavecchia joined
them for a practice round and reached the same conclusion.
''I've seen him hit it
worse and win majors,'' Calcavecchia said.
Southern Hills is a test
unlike any other major over the past three years because of fairways that bend
around trees and are framed by fickle Bermuda rough, greens that are fast and
firm and heavily contoured and can wreak havoc when the ball is on the wrong side
of the hole.
''The course is going to
be tough, the wind is going to be tough and the competition is going to be tough,''
Davis Love III said. ''It's the guy who wins the mental battle that will do it.
And that's what Tiger has been doing.''
Woods loses an ally in
that Southern Hills has only two par 5s, one of which is the longest hole in U.S.
Open history at 642 yards (No. 5). Woods used driver off the tee during his practice
round Tuesday morning and watched it roll across the canted fairway toward a bunker
down the right side.
''What's the point?'' he
said to himself, then hit 3-iron off the tee.
A day earlier, Woods was
in the fifth fairway and waiting for the green to clear, unaware that Eduardo
Romero was waving him on, wanting to see if Woods could get home in two.
Woods hit an easy 3-wood
that hit the green and trickled into the rough. Romero retrieved the ball and
placed it 4 feet from the hole.
Such are the expectations,
even if Woods doesn't get caught up in them.
''I really don't have that
appreciation for what I've been able to accomplish because I've been so focused
on that and I don't see the periphery and what it really means,'' he said. ''All
I see is trying to shape a shot and trying to make a putt.''
His mind is always at work,
churning away in pursuit of getting better as everyone else simply tries to get
close.
