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Sports Watch

By Bill Kwon

Tuesday, July 25, 2000

Woods in a
league of his own

WHAT more can you say about Tiger Woods except that he's now a living legend in our time.

And that folks in Hawaii, whether they follow golf or not, have an opportunity to see him at least twice a year -- in the Mercedes Championships at Kapalua, Maui, and the PGA Grand Slam of Golf at the Poipu Bay Resort on Kauai.

And watching him up close and personal, without jostling with thousands of others in a gallery, which is what happens when he plays in tournaments elsewhere.

Tiger continues to boggle our minds as well as that of his peers with his record-breaking 19-under-par victory in the British Open at historic St. Andrews.

That gave him a career grand slam at the age of 24, joining only four others who have accomplished that golfing feat -- Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus.

Having joined that illustrious foursome, maybe Tiger can now ask to play through.

Winning the U.S. Open and British Open in 2000 and at two of golf's most fabled sites -- picturesque Pebble Beach and St. Andrews, the home of golf -- was something special, said Woods, who's something special himself.

What can he do for an encore?

Well, for one thing, he can successfully defend his PGA Championship next month at Valhalla and become the first since Hogan, who did it in 1953, to win three of golf's four majors in the same year.

Who's to say he can't or won't?

He'll be favored to win the PGA Championship again. And the next 40 majors after that.

Winning the real grand slam -- all four in one year -- has been considered an almost impossible feat.

That is, until Tiger came along. Now, nobody's betting against it ever happening.

Right now, he's playing in a league of his own. There's the Tiger Flight and then there's the rest of the field.

He's the "chosen one," said Mark Calcavecchia.

"It wasn't that long ago when I said there'd never be another Jack Nicklaus. But we're looking at one. He's it. He's the chosen one."

"He is something supernatural," added Tom Watson.

Yet, Tiger says that there's still room for improvement in his game. So you know he still wants to get better.

ALSO, there are still more goals to accomplish for Tiger, who's very goal-oriented.

Right now, he holds the tournament record in three of the majors -- the Masters (18 under), U.S. Open (12 under) and British Open (19 under).

The record for the PGA Championship is a 17-under 267, shared by Steve Elkington, who beat Colin Montgomerie in a playoff when the tournament was held at the Riviera Country Club in 1995.

So that's the next goal for Tiger: set the tournament record for the PGA Championship.

Then aim to win the Masters next April so that he can be the reigning champion in all four of the majors as well as hold all of the records.

Now that's a grand slam dunk for all time until he eventually passes Nicklaus' record of 18 major victories one of these years -- by, oh, maybe 2004 or 2005.

Clearly, the best is yet to come for Tiger Woods.

Will Tiger's dominance kill the sport of golf? Not really.

TV ratings continue to be high whenever Tiger's playing, even when he's running away from the field.

His charisma gives golf a crossover appeal. And for golfers, it's a joy watching golf being played as close to perfection as possible.