Woods Plays Against History; Others Chase Him

Jack Nicklaus, at this moment the greatest golfer ever but by a steadily diminishing margin, was asked recently if he worried about Tiger Woods’ eventually challenging his place in history.

“I had my century,” Nicklaus said.

“Tiger can have the 21st.”

It appears to be his.

When Woods won the 100th U.S. Open golf championship by 15 strokes over Ernie Els and Miguel Angel Jimenez on Sunday at Pebble Beach, he took the game where it had never been.

“If that’s not perfect, I don’t know what is,” said Els, a two-time Open champion.

Woods set a page full of records, starting with his margin of victory.

Old Tom Morris had held the record for the most lopsided major championship, winning the British Open by 13 strokes over Willie Park in 1862. The largest margin in the U.S. Open had been Willie Smith by 11 strokes in 1899.

Woods finished at 12 under par, the lowest by three strokes in Open history, and his 272 total for 72 holes tied the record held by Nicklaus and Lee Janzen.

“I had a weird feeling this week, a feeling of tranquility and calm,” Woods said. “I felt very at ease with myself. It’s something we all want to have but you can’t have it every day.

To have it all week is a great feeling.”

As Woods marched along the cliffs at Pebble Beach on Sunday afternoon, bathed in warm sunshine and only the softest of breezes, there was never any question about his winning his first U.S. Open championship.

It was the kind of day toward which the 24-year-old Woods has pointed his life.

He has always had a simple goal - to be the best golfer ever.

He plays against Bobby Jones, Byron Nelson, Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer and Nicklaus. Everyone else plays against him.

Woods admitted before he played the final round that even in his dreams he never envisioned taking a 10-stroke lead into the final round of the U.S. Open. He was always dueling Hogan or Nicklaus or Palmer or all three.

But as we learned when he won the 1997 Masters by 12 strokes, Woods defies convention.

“In years past, even par has always been the score at the U.S. Open,” Phil Mickelson said. “For Tiger to break par the way he has shows how he has separated himself not just from present-day golfers but from golfers from the past as well.”

The first clue about the outcome of this Open had come when Woods shot 65 in Thursday’s fog-shrouded first round.

Everyone else was playing another mean, mind-scorching U.S. Open while Woods stepped through the looking glass.

“He’s just better in all aspects of the game, especially mentally,” Rocco Mediate said. “Yeah, he can be beat. But over 11, 12 years, the rest of us have no chance. Once in a while we can beat him. I don’t have a problem with that.”

Nicklaus was much the same. In his prime, he and his blond hair loomed like a dragon over golf.

Now Woods, cut like a Greek statue, dominates the scene. He has won five of his 11 starts on the PGA Tour this year and finished second three times.

He’s a victory in the British Open away from winning the career Grand Slam - before his 25th birthday.

Nicklaus says he never separated himself from everyone else the way Woods has.

“When my son wants to achieve something, nothing distracts him,” Woods’ mother, Kultida, has said.

After Woods shattered the Masters scoring record in 1997, he knew he had to change his golf swing to make it last. So he did. Technically, he’s better than ever - and built for the long haul.

Personally, Woods also took command. He went to the gym. As a 17-year-old, Woods couldn’t bench press 100 pounds. Now he has the arms and shoulders of a swimmer and a 30-inch waist.

He restructured his business life, firing his agent and his caddy and moving his father, Earl, gently aside.

Woods makes a reported $45million annually in endorsements, but on his terms. He makes $5million per year from American Express. In return, the credit card company gets him four days a year to shoot commercials. No mess. No fuss.

In the three years since he won the Masters, Woods has grown into a man. He’s more relaxed. He smiles more. He’s less defensive in interviews.

Standing in the 18th fairway late Sunday afternoon, Woods looked out at the rolling waters of Carmel Bay and everything around him.

Even he had to wonder if it could ever be this good again.