Now the hunt for true Slam begins

By Jim Litke
Associated Press

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Now let's see a real Grand Slam.

Beyond that, there's not much left in golf to occupy Tiger Woods.

He's already crammed a career's worth of achievement into a half-dozen years. He's cleared the horizon of rivals. History is the last challenger still standing.

Counting yesterday's win in the Masters, Woods now owns six majors — the same number as Lee Trevino and Nick Faldo — and he turned 25 just last December. Ten names remain ahead of him on that list of major winners, topped by Jack Nicklaus and the 18 titles beside his name. The earliest Woods could catch Nicklaus, assuming he wins every major staged between now and then, is at the Masters in April 2004.

He needs something to aim at between now and then. Woods was already the youngest golfer to accomplish a career Grand Slam. Now he becomes the only one in the modern era to hold all four components of the Slam — Masters, U.S. Open, British Open and PGA Championship — at the same time.

For the moment, Woods ducked the question of whether that constitutes a Grand Slam. Before now, golf historians have argued that all four majors must be won in a single year. Until now, it was a moot point.

"I don't think it's right for me to comment on that," Woods said. "But it will probably go down as one of the top moments in our sport.

"I don't think I ever dreamed of winning four straight majors. I dreamed about competing against the best and winning majors. But I never put winning four in a row in my head until now."

That's the difference between Woods and everybody else. Other golfers talk about how they grew up wanting to win this tournament or that. He grew up wanting to win everything.

Before the debate over a Grand Slam could begin, though, Woods had to win this one. He began the day a stroke ahead of Phil Mickelson and three clear of David Duval, two young guns who were supposed to provide him with challenges for years, but are lucky if they push him week to week.

Mickelson, who was yet to win a major in 34 tries, began the weekend talking about this being "my time," and Duval, the only player besides Woods ranked No. 1 in the last three years, was talking about this tournament being his "destiny."

Both seemed on to something, though, when the three reached the back nine with Duval, playing two groups ahead of Woods, tied for the lead at 14 under, with Mickelson, playing alongside Tiger on No. 11, only a stroke behind.

That's when Tiger unleashed a wedge shot from 149 yards and nearly holed it. He would say later that a par-saving putt from 6 feet on No. 10 was his most important shot with the short stick, and that the drive on 13 that cut the corner on the par-5 and set up his next-to-last birdie was the most important tee shot of the tournament.

But before that wedge gets lost among all the memorable shots on one of the most memorable days the game has seen, consider this: Woods needed 121 putts for the tournament, a number that ranked him 37th. And only once in the last 10 years, has the Masters champion ranked lower than 13th for the week.

Woods knew he wasn't putting all that well, so he decided to get around that by simply knocking the ball closer to the hole.

That's an option not available to many of his peers. It explained why more than a few of them felt compelled to gather alongside the 18th green. They wanted to see the completion of one of golf's greatest feats for themselves, even if there was no agreement on what to call it.

"The historians say you've got to win all four in one year," said Mark Calcavecchia, a close pal who tied for fourth. "Of course, he could still do that, too."

"He's got four together on the mantle at one time and I think that's a Grand Slam, no matter what order it's in," Chris DiMarco said. "He might go on and win three more in a row and shut everybody up."

PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem noted several weeks ago there was no real authority for determining whether Woods' achievement should be called the Grand Slam. The only previous Slam was credited to Bobby Jones, who in 1930 won the U.S. and British Open and Amateurs, then considered the four most important golf tournaments of the time.

"I think it's a slam," Finchem said. "It's a different kind of slam than we grew up with, but different is OK."

The real reason the question matters is that Woods needs all the motivation he can get.

"I think some of the biggest accomplishments I've been privy to have been on videotape," Woods said. "I haven't been on the planet long enough to have seen the greatest athletes of all time do some of their stuff.

"I've never seen Ali fight live, and some of the stuff Michael Jordan has done has been absolutely amazing,"

Woods produces enough moments of his own to be mentioned in the same breath with Nicklaus, the best golf has ever seen. Enough to be mentioned alongside the best from all the other sports, Ali and Jordan and Babe Ruth.

But he needs a challenge to draw out his best, and winning the next three majors — and four in the same year — is just outrageous enough to make him do that.