No doubt about it, they'll have to beat Tiger
Mike Dudurich
Posted 2009-06-14
When discussion takes place about this week's U.S. Open at Bethpage Black, the centerpiece is always Tiger Woods and his pursuit of history in the form of Jack Nicklaus' 18 major victories.
He encouraged that sort of conversation with a spectacular performance two weeks ago at the Memorial Tournament when he re-discovered what had become a lost art for him: hitting fairways.
So now he comes to Bethpage Black this week, on a hot streak, looking to keep the record perfect in terms of winners of Opens there: Opens held: 2; Opens won by Tiger Woods: 2.
Should he win, that would give him 15, putting him within a year's worth of majors of passing the Golden Bear.
Historic enough, to be sure, but as is becoming the case every time Woods plays a major, history is enshrouding him.
He comes to New York as the defending Open champion, having defeated Rocco Mediate a year ago at Torrey Pines in what may have been the greatest Open ever. So, he's looking to become the first player since Curtis Strange in 1988 to win Opens in back-to-back years.
A victory would give him four open titles and he would join Willie Anderson (he played 100 years ago) as the only players to win the national championship four times in a decade.
The list of possibilities goes on .. A win would complete the Grand Slam of repeats for Woods, who has already won back-to-back in the Masters (2001-02), British Open (2005-06) and twice in the PGA Championship (1999-2000 and 2006-07). Bobby Jones (U.S. Open and British Open) and Walter Hagen (British Open and PGA Championship) are the only other players who have repeated in more than one major.
Wouldn't you like get inside Tiger's mind and see what he really thinks about all of this?
He rarely allows anyone to see what's going on inside of him and just as rarely speaks on that subject. I know I'd love to know what he thinks of all the historic references, etc.
But Tiger doesn't care what I'd like to do, or what I'd like to know, although prior to the U.S. Open at Oakmont in 2007, a few of us were granted 10 minutes of one-on-one with him and he was very gracious. Didn't give out many insights, but was very friendly.
Peering through my magical looking glass that allows me to see the unseen, I'll venture to say that while all of those stats and references are very nice, the only thing that matters to him are victories in the four biggest tournaments of the year: the majors.
Win those and all these other things will fall into place.
So he has left all of the talking to us, so why shouldn't we have a good time tossing this stuff around?
OK, so back to this repeating thing. History has shown that it's fairly difficult to do, but how about this? Do you know how long it's been since player tried to repeat on a golf course where he was the last player to win? Believe it or not that would be Jack Nicklaus, who beat Arnold Palmer in his backyard at Oakmont in 1962 and then competed there in 1973.
He, like the rest of the field, had victory snatched from them when Johnny Miller shot 63 in the final round to win.
"Bethpage feeds right into his game," Strange said when asked what he thought Woods' chances were. "It eliminates even more players in the field than most Opens because it's a long, hard golf course. After his performance (at Memorial), and all the skeptics writing him off, I think he's a heavy, heavy favorite."
There's no doubt about the fact that the Black whittles the field down quickly. It's a brute at 7,465 yards, with greens that require the hands of a surgeon. Not too many players, even the best players, have both the power and finesse games in their tool box.
In 2002, no one shot lower than 66 at Bethpage Black and Woods was the only player to finish under par, winning by three shots over Phil Mickelson.
Since his triumph over Bethpage, some things have changed for Woods. Like his swing, his blown-out knee and a pair of children. None of that, however, has seemed to put any sort of damper on the world's No. 1 player.
"It's five to pass him (Nicklaus), four to tie him," Woods said. "That's a lot. Most of the guys in my generation haven't won more than three, so it's quite a challenge. I probably wouldn't have had as good a chance to put myself in position ... if I hadn't had the surgery. My leg was deteriorating the past couple of years. I'm healthy enough where I think I can give it go."
While it hasn't been determined exactly what kind of course DOESN'T suit Woods, he is enamored with the idea of playing the Open on public courses, which is where he learned the game.
Oh yeah, he also won all three of his Open titles on places Joe Golfer can get on if he has the cash: Bethpage, Torrey Pines and Pebble Beach. He seemed to get a big kick out of the vocal New York fans, especially the ones who insisted on yelling out how they played the hole Woods was playing.
Strange likes to tell people that it wasn't so much what he did when he went back-to-back, but what others didn't do. Woods is doing, however. He's gone 17 consecutive starts in stroke play without finishing out of the top 10 and sparkled at the Memorial.
No less an authority than Arnold Palmer, who knows a thing or two about winning majors, likes his chances.
"Without question, Tiger has to be the prohibitive favorite, for reasons too numerous to list," Palmer said on my radio show Saturday. "The golf course is very challenging and that favors him as well. Bottom line, he would have to break down somewhere along the line this week for him not win this week."
Any other questions about why Woods is the prohibitive favorite this week?
Start a Feedback Thread Or Talk About This Article
NEWS
FORUMS
EQUIPMENT
COURSES
PRO SHOP
DIRECTORY
CONTACT US
GIVEAWAYS
ADVERTISING
As a sports writer for over 35 years, Mike Dudurich has seen a lot of great things, covered spectacular events, but his passion is, and has been golf.
He recently ended a 29-year career at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and will now be a frequent contributor on GolfGearReview.com.
Mike hosts a weekly golf radio show on 1250 ESPN in Pittsburgh from the beginning of April through the end of August.
The show airs Saturdays from 8-9 a.m. and can be heard online at