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Home > Terence Moore > Archives > 2008 > April > 08
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
There’s Tiger, then everyone else
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Augusta — You know it. His gifted but overmatched peers won’t say so directly, but they know it. Even the azaleas and the dogwoods know the inevitable is coming Sunday when Zach Johnson places a fifth green jacket around the red-shirted shoulders of You Know Who.
Tiger Woods can’t lose.
Tiger Woods won’t lose.
So, to save a little time this weekend at Augusta National, Woods’ peers should pack their bags and spikes now and drive quietly back down Magnolia Lane before the embarrassment starts.
Let’s start with what those not named Tiger Woods have to say. They’ve got to tell you that the most dominating athlete in the history of his sport really isn’t inside their heads these days. Consider Padraig Harrington’s version of claiming the grass at Augusta National is chartreuse instead of green. “I would always say, you know, when it comes to Tiger, you have to actually do your own thing and not think about it,” Harrington said Tuesday after his practice round. “It’s the only way to deal with any player. You play your own game and do your own thing. If it doesn’t come up good enough, just shake the other guy’s hands and say, ‘Well done.’ “
Nice try, Padraig, but it’s not going to work. Just like the others, Harrington has visions rattling around his head of Tiger’s fist pumping up and down after doing something great. “From another player’s standpoint, from my standpoint, he makes me want to get better,” said Zach Johnson, who isn’t just another player. He’s the defending Masters champion, and just like the others he hasn’t a chance. The primary reason Johnson fell out of the Eisenhower Tree or something to grab last year’s tournament had much to do with gusty, chilly winds, Woods’ inability to putt and a mighty dose of luck.
Now Woods is Woods again, with five victories in his past six PGA starts and nine in his past 11 tournaments overall. Johnson forced a chuckle, before adding, “[Woods] says he can get better, which is absolutely scary. I mean, I know I can. It’s encouraging. Makes you want to work harder. He’s a freak in a good way.”
Actually, he’s a freak in a Tiger way, which means his domination is self-created by combining the physical and the psychological in extraordinary ways.
Translated: Woods plays and thinks better than everybody else.
There is this talk, for instance, about somebody (OK, Woods) becoming the first guy in the modern Grand Slam era to win all four majors in the same year. Phil Mickelson is pretty good. In fact, he’s won the Masters twice. He’s also ranked No. 2 in the world behind You Know Who, and here’s what Mickelson says about anybody winning the Grand Slam: “I don’t know. I think that’s probably the most difficult feat in golf. I think that it could be pretty cool to see it done. The last tournament or two there would be some incredible pressure.”
Said Harrington, making his ninth Masters appearance, “I think you really do have to go back to the Nicklauses and the Hogans and guys like that to think of the last person who you really consider [had a chance] to win four.”
Then again, why talk about anybody winning four majors, suggested Johnson, when it’s difficult to win one? “I’m going to go into majors looking for opportunities,” Johnson said. “That’s all it is. I want to be in contention. I want to have opportunities to get in contention.”
Now contrast those timid remarks against Woods stating boldly before this season that grabbing the Grand Slam was “within reason.” Upon reflection, maybe he has changed his mind over the past few days, weeks and months.
“Nope,” Woods said quickly, with a straight face, during his interview session Tuesday. That’s the psychological thing we were talking about. His overwhelming confidence not only intimidates his competitors — whether they admit it or not — but inspires himself. Added Woods, “I mean, the reason why I said that, you have to understand why I said that, because I’ve done it before.”
Sounds good to me.
Unfortunately for Woods’ competitors, it sounds pretty frightening — whether they admit it or not.
