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Sports Watch

By Bill Kwon

Tuesday, August 22, 2000

Woods will play
in isle specials

WOW. What a fantastic finish to the PGA Championship between Tiger Woods and golf's whodaguy, Bob May.

Was that must-see TV or what?

Television ratings confirmed it. Of the 10 million sets turned on Sunday, 23 percent tuned to the golf on CBS.

This time, more than just to watch Tiger. The viewers were also treated to some great pressure-packed shot-making.

Tiger made golf history by becoming the first to win three majors in one year since Ben Hogan. But history was put on hold for three playoff holes.

So what's next for Tiger?

Not making more money. Enough already. He has loads of it. The first to earn $7 million in one year in 1999, he's on the verge of making that two years in a row and can do it this week in the by-invitation only NEC World Golf Championships.

Clearly, winning all four majors in a single year is surely on his list of things to do.

Once considered an impossible feat, Tiger has made it a very realistic goal. For Tiger Woods, anyway.

I see Tiger making the majors his foremost goal from now on. Oh, he'll play his usual 20 to 22 tournaments a year on the PGA Tour. And, if he has a hot round or two, he might go all out and try to win.

But I don't think Tiger will be as driven in those events as he will be for a major.

I can't see him maxing out his emotions and feelings week after week without suffering some kind of burnout.

Look for Tiger to be something special when a tournament's something special.

Until the Masters next April -- the only major in which he isn't the reigning champion -- two of the special events will be in Hawaii:

The PGA Grand Slam at the Poipu Bay Resort during Thanksgiving week and the Mercedes Championships at Kapalua. Tiger's the defending champion in both.

Having won three of the majors, Woods provided an opportunity for two alternates to join him and Masters champion Vijay Singh in the Grand Slam.

They will be Ernie Els and Paul Azinger. Els was no surprise, having finished second in the year's first three majors.

Azinger ended in a tie for 23rd in the PGA Championship to hurdle past Tom Lehman and Fred Couples on the alternate point list. Only previous major winners are eligible.

The Grand Slam event couldn't have asked for a better foursome, despite two of them being alternates.

Els has played in the $1 million event three times, beating Woods in 1997. Now Tiger's trying for an unprecedented three-peat.

AZINGER also will bring a lot of local appeal to the event. The 2000 Sony Open winner has always been a local favorite with his success at the Waialae Country Club.

"It's great having Paul," said Michael Castillo, Poipu Bay's director of golf.

It'll be Zinger's first appearance at Poipu Bay. He played in the 1993 Grand Slam after winning the PGA Championship. But the event was held at La Quinta, Calif., that year.

Azinger received a double dose of good news yesterday.

He also was named to the Presidents Cup team as one of the two wild-card choices by team captain Ken Venturi.

It's a surprising pick by Venturi, considering Azinger trailed nine others on the Presidents Cup point list.

"He's a leader, he's a team man, he's a wonderful match player," said Venturi, who also selected Loren Roberts.

As an added bonus, Azinger is now eligible for the NEC Invitational at Firestone.

Oh, Tiger's on the 12-man American team and he should definitely be up for the matches Oct. 19-22 at the Robert Trent Jones Club in Virginia.