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Tiger
Woods is to golf what Michael Jordan is to basketball, what Ruth
and Mays are to baseball, and what Gretsky is to hockey. In this
day and age when every periodical and every radio and TV outlet
name their top 50 or 100 athletes…STOP THE PRESSES! There’s a
new sheriff in town. You might as well tear up all of those lists
because Tiger is moving up the list so fast that even Jaws on an
empty stomach at Amityville beach couldn’t have eaten up more
people than the Tiger has!
Woods
has left the PGA tour players in his wake. He’s left the place a
vast wasteland. Some expert commentators say the rest of the field
is playing for second place…I disagree. I think they are playing
for pride. They have to get within single digits of him. For five
hundred years people have heard and told the tales of golf, but
this is a new story. I fear that when we tell our kids and our
grandkids how dominating that Tiger was that they will look at us
as if we’re telling them a fish story or one of our own golf
tales that get better with age.
I
don’t know if our recounts of the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach or
the British Open at
St.
Andrews will do the true story justice. I mean, how do you
describe the complete annihilation of the greatest golfers in the
world on two of the legendary courses? Tiger has made a mockery of
the game. If he wants to win, he will. At 2-1 odds he blew away
the field!
He
can even win the way he wants to. If he wants to play it straight,
he can win that way. If he wants to punch the ball under or
through the wind, he can win that way. Or, if he wants to putt the
ball any time he is within 65 yards of the pin, he can win that
way. He was never in a bunker this week on a course that is famous
for eating golf balls. I haven’t seen a stat on this, but I can’t
think of a time when a winner wasn’t in at least one sand trap
in route to the winner’s circle.
He
didn’t even play all that well in his final round. I know he
shot a 3-under-par round. But, if you studied him, he was not
happy with his round most of the day. His approach shots were
flying the pins, and his putts were coming up short most of the
day.
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And
in spite of what he felt was a lackluster performance, he blitzed
his fellow competitors by eight shots, which was still the largest
margin of victory in 87 years of golf’s oldest major
championship. He became just the third player in Open history to
win with four rounds in the 60s. His 19-under 269 will reign as
the lowest score in relation to par EVER in a major championship
and of course, the lowest score ever recorded at St. Andrews. It
seems fitting that as St. Andrews has long been recognized as the
home of golf, those people got to see the coronation of the new
king!
When
Woods tees off at Valhalla in August, he will chase Ben Hogan as
the only other golfer to win three majors in one year…and this
LDN observer will not be betting against him! Tiger has now
entered elite company. He joins Gene Sarazen in 1935, Ben Hogan in
1953, Gary Player in 1965 and Jack Nicklaus in 1966 as the only
players in history to win the Grand Slam (for those who may not
know…the Grand Slam of golf is achieved by winning the Masters,
the U.S. Open, the British Open and the PGA championships) of
golf.
Oh,
and by the way, that makes Tiger, at 24, the youngest player ever
to do it. He also did it in his 93rd event, while it
took Nicklaus 125 to accomplish the feat.
I
agree with what five-time British Open champion, Tom Watson said
about Tiger, "He is something supernatural. He has raised the
bar to a level that only he can jump."
A
few years ago, Lincoln resident Brad Neal and former Lincolnites
Curt Swan and Brad Bumgardner and I got to follow the then-amateur
Woods as he played a practice round with Nicklaus and Arnold
Palmer. I got right next to the rope and walked alongside Tiger to
make the ensuing picture appear as if I were in the foursome. But,
I won’t do that the next time that I encounter Woods. The next
time I see him, I’m gonna say, "There goes the best that’s
ever been."
[Jeff
Mayfield]
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6
and under, girls
Abby
Butler – 25 free, 39.87, first; 25 breast, 40.51, first; 25 fly,
46.19, first
Kaylee
McAllister – 25 free, third; 25 back, 35.45, first; 25 fly, third
Brittney
Purdue – 25 free, third; 25 fly, second; 25 back, second
6
and under, boys
Brennan
Elsas – 25 free, 21.75, first; 25 breast, 38.81, first; 100 IM,
2:22.2,1 first
8
and under, girls
Alberta
Danley – 25 breast, 32.79, first; 50 free, 52.22, first; 100 IM
2.19.81, first
Sarah
Fuller – 25 free, second; 25 fly, second; 25 back, 54.41, first
Katie
Martin – 25 free, 41.46, first; 25 breast, second; 25 fly, 42.93,
first
8
and under, boys
Sam
Wood – 50 free, second; 100 IM, 2:05.97, first; 25 back, 24.78,
first
Tad
Pleasant – 25 free, second; 25 breast, third; 25 fly, third
9
and 10, girls
Elizabeth
Freed – 25 free, fourth; 50 free, fourth; 25 breast, fifth
Cathy
Caldwell – 100 IM, 1.55.72, first; 25 back, 23.41, first; 25 fly,
23.06, first
Lauren
May – 25 free, second; 25 back, second
Darcie
Pleasant – 25 breast, 26.91, first; 25 fly, third; 50 free, 44.95,
first
9
and 10, boys
Andrew
Brinkman – 25 free, 27.85, first; 25 back, second; 100 IM, second
Andy
Martin – 25 fly, 34.29, first; 25 breast, 29.54, first
(To
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11
and 12, girls
Mindy
Malerich – 50 back, 45.91, first; 100 free, 1:25.48, first; 50
breast, 49.97, first
Mallory
Hinton – 50 free, 39.30, first; 50 fly, 50.39, first; 100 IM,
1:43.34, first
Karlie
Pleasant – 50 free, second; 50 fly, second; 100 free, second
13
and 14, girls
Stephanie
Couch – 100 free, 1:22.14, first; 50 back, 47.59, first; 50 fly,
51.14, first
Amy
Holmes – 50 breast, third; 100 IM, second; 50 free, 45.68, first
13
and 14, boys
Sean
Weaver – 50 free, 30.75, first; 50 fly, 33.34, first; 100 IM,
1:20.35, first
8
and under, 100 medley relay
Wood,
T. Fuller, Danley, Elsas – 2:17.47, first
Purdue,
Butler, K. Martin, McAllister – second
8
and under, 100 free relay
Wood,
Fuller, Danley, Elsas – 2:06.13, first
Butler,
Purdue, McAlleister, T. Pleasant – second
9
and 10, 100 medley relay
May,
Freed, Brinkman, D. Pleasant – second
9
and 10, 100 free relay
Freed,
May, Brinkman, D. Pleasant – fourth
11
and 12, 200 medley relay
K.
Pleasant, Malerich, Hinton, Caldwell – 3:12.67, first
11
and 12, 200 free relay
Malerich,
Caldwell, K. Pleasant, Hinton – 2:47.28, first
13
and 14, 200 free relay
Couch,
Brinkman, Holmes,Weaver – 3:00.41, first
Final
score:
Athens
447
Lincoln
476
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