WHAT can you say about Tiger Woods and his remarkable victory in the Masters that hasn't already been said? Poipu will get to
show off its stripesBen Crenshaw probably put it the best: "Words are failing me on Tiger Woods' performance."
This was before Tiger won by 12 whopping strokes with a record 18-under-par 270 at the Augusta National. It was an out-of-this-world performance. It was as if Woods wasn't only playing a different game, he was playing a different golf course in lapping the field and making everyone else look like an also-ran.
Augusta was so difficult that Nick Faldo, a three-time winner, and Greg Norman missed the cut. Also, Steve Jones and Mark Brooks, who, along with Faldo, combined to win three of golf's four majors last year.
Steve Elkington -- who captured the other major, the PGA Championship -- was the only one to survive the cut, which was 5 over par, and he finished 17 strokes behind Woods.
Forget all the social commentary about how Woods struck a blow with his driver and wedge for all the minorities in the world. He really didn't.
Tiger just put together a fantastic show of golf to accomplish his dream of winning the Masters. For himself. And for his loving parents. Maybe for his sponsors, too. After all, Nike and Titleist invested big bucks in Tiger. That, to me, is what makes Tiger Woods even more amazing than his remarkable golfing skills.
NO, not the amount of money. But that all that money hasn't caused Woods to buckle under the hype and pressure to succeed. That he has excelled despite all that.
Crenshaw marveled at the "bionic length" of Tiger's drives. But when you think about it, Tiger Woods is a "bionic golfer," one who has combined length, accuracy and putting skills. Surely, a combination never seen in any golfer, even a Jack Nicklaus.
If Nicklaus played a game nobody had ever seen before, as the late Bobby Jones once remarked about the "Golden Bear," Woods is playing a game that even Nicklaus has not seen.
Tiger's runaway Masters' victory brings us to a very interesting scenario. What if Woods scores a personal Grand Slam by winning the U.S. Open, British Open and PGA Championship as well?
Far-fetched, you say? Maybe. But who would have thought he'd win the Masters by 12 strokes? Even Nicklaus says it's very unlikely, but possible.
That brings me to my opening comment. What can be said about Tiger Woods that hasn't been said as yet?
Well, what about him making his first showing here as a pro, that's what. Woods, who skipped the United Airlines Hawaiian Open, last played here at the Kaneohe Klipper course, winning the John Burns Intercollegiate tournament in February, 1996, as a collegian at Stanford before he turned pro.
AS the winner of golf's first major, Woods became the first to qualify for the MasterCard PGA Grand Slam of Golf at the Poipu Bay Resort on Kauai Nov. 18-19. He'll be joined by the other three winners for the $1 million event.
But imagine if Woods wins all four majors by himself. Then the other three will be chosen on a point system based on how they fared in this year's majors. In 1994, Norman was the first alternate at Poipu Bay when Nick Price won both the British Open and the PGA Championship.
The prospect of Tiger Woods playing at his course already has Poipu Bay's director of golf, Ron Kiaaina Jr., salivating.
"It'll be a blessing for Hawaii," says Kiaaina, who knows that the telecast of the two-day event will not only put Poipu Bay on the map but the 50th State on center stage.
Now that would be simply g-r-r-r-eat.