Ain't life Grand? It is, if you're Tiger Woods
| • | Now the hunt for true Slam begins |
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AUGUSTA, Ga. — Tiger Woods removed his cap and covered his face so he could flick away his tears, a rare moment when he wasn't in complete control.
"I've never had that feeling before," Woods said.
Professional golf hasn't seen anything like this before, either.
Slam or not, Woods was simply grand yesterday, claiming the greatest feat in modern golf with a thrilling victory at the Masters that gave him a sweep of the four professional majors in a span of 294 days.
"He's not like anyone we've seen before in the game," said Mark Calcavecchia, who returned to the 18th green in time to watch Woods wrap it up.
When his 18-foot birdie putt curved gently to the left and disappeared into the 18th hole, Woods raised his arms in triumph and almost immediately began to reflect on an achievement even he couldn't resist calling one of the greatest ever.
A runaway at the U.S. Open. History at St. Andrews. A heart-stopper in the PGA Championship. The grand finale came at Augusta National, where Woods held off David Duval and Phil Mickelson to win No. 4
"I have a better appreciation for winning a major championship," said Woods, who walked off the course and into the waiting arms of his father, who taught him the game, and his mother. "To win four of them in succession, it's hard to believe. I don't think I've ever accomplished anything this great."
Woods closed with a 4-under 68 for a two-stroke victory over Duval, thanks to a spectacular 8-iron that grazed the cup at the 11th hole for a tap-in birdie and steady play down the back stretch at Augusta.
"I was so attuned to each and every shot that I focused so hard on just that one golf shot," said Woods, who won $1,008,000. "I finally realized I had no more to play. That's it. I'm done."
Duval and Mickelson each had chances, but failed to harness the magic that has carried Woods to five of the last six majors.
Duval, believing this might be his year after three close calls, made it through Amen Corner without a mistake but took bogey on the par-3 16th, firing his tee shot over the green and missing an 8-foot putt for par.
"I really don't have an explanation," Duval said. "(I had) 183 yards to the flag and I hit a 7-iron and it flew the green. You know, to be perfectly honest with you, I thought I might have made a one. You don't fly it 190-something yards over the green like I did."
He still had two chances to catch Woods, but looked on in shock as birdie putts from 12 feet on the 17th and 5 feet on the final hole failed to fall.
"I guess I probably just pulled it a little bit," Duval said of his putt on the 18th. "I had it breaking a little bit left. I missed it. I knew I needed to make it."
Mickelson, poised to claim his first major, also missed an 8-foot par putt on the 16th hole. He also failed to cash in on birdie putts on the final two holes.
"I'm certainly disappointed right now and I am not thinking about the joy of having the chance to win," he said.
Mickelson called the 16th hole "a real killer" because he had finally closed to one shot of Woods. But he hit a poor drive, a pulled 7-iron, and the ball stayed on a slope to the right of the flagstick.
"That was a very disappointing shot because I needed to put some pressure and have at least a good birdie opportunity," he said.
A three-putt later, Mickelson was gone.
Meanwhile, Woods never faltered.
His lead remained at one stroke when he missed a 3-foot birdie putt on the 15th, but he traded spectacular golf for solid play with history on the line and delivered, as he has done from the time he turned pro five short years ago.
"I've succeeded in what I wanted to accomplish," Woods said as he sat in Butler's cabin waiting for last year's winner, Vijay Singh, to help him slip on his second green jacket in four years. "I don't feel ecstatic yet. It hasn't sunk in."
He later took a congratulatory call from President Bush.
All that remained was what to call this remarkable feat. Purists argue that a Grand Slam is accomplished in a calendar year. Woods, emotionally drained after a relentless battle from start to finish, stayed out of the argument.
"Call it what you want," Rocco Mediate said. "It's spectacular."
Woods can simply take out his trophies from the Masters, U.S. Open, British Open and PGA Championship — and claim a place in history that no professional has occupied.
Not Jack Nicklaus, his idol, who missed his chance to hold the titles of all four majors in 1972. Not Arnold Palmer, who dreamed up the idea of a Grand Slam in 1960 but only got halfway there.
"I think it's a slam, with all due respect to Jack and Arnie," PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said. "It's just different to what we had when we grew up. What he has done . . . it's the biggest achievement in golf."
The only Grand Slam in golf not up for debate is the one that belongs to Bobby Jones, who won the U.S. Open, U.S. Amateur, British Open and British Amateur in 1930.
Fittingly, Woods finished his historic run at the tournament Jones created in 1934.
"A Grand Slam is something we've never seen before," said Butch Harmon, Woods' swing coach. "But we may see it before we're done."
A Grand Slam that no one can debate? Next stop, the U.S. Open.
"We'll find out in June," Woods said.
