Tiger Woods turns 30 this year. He has not won a major tournament since the 2002 U.S. Open, contested 31 months ago. He's second fiddle to Vijay Singh, the world's best golfer. "Tigermania," the manic phenomenon that began at the 1997 Masters and was fully validated three years later when Woods held every major title, is on life support. Woods is no longer the roll-your-eyes, odds-on favorite in every tournament he plays. "Will he ever lose?" — a query posited often during Woods' dominant period — is becoming an ancient question, superseded by nostalgic wonder: is that Tiger gone forever?
Perhaps. Woods still struggles to hit fairways with consistency, and he has not produced a field-lapping performance recently. But he has already won this season and was in contention in each of his other PGA Tour appearances.
This season, however, provides Tiger with a unique opportunity to recapture his place at the zenith of golf. The Grand Slam is a possibility.
It's true. Three of four golf's major tournaments are contested at different venues every summer. Because certain players handle certain courses better than others, the choice of course is often the predominate factor in deciding the tournament favorite. A U.S. Open at the Olympic Club requires much different golf than a U.S. Open at Bethpage Black.
Winning the Grand Slam, therefore, is a feat of good fortune in addition to skill. And this season, Tiger Woods has to smile at his good fortune.
The Masters, held annually at Augusta National, provides no surprises. Woods has won the Green Jacket three times, and his ability to hit the ball high and soft gives him an advantage over most of the field. Augusta has always been known as a long-hitter's course, and the alterations to the course in the past few years have served to solidify that reputation. Woods, a long-hitter, also has the touch and imagination to handle the slick, undulating greens at Augusta. In other words, Woods likes Augusta, and Augusta likes Woods.
Pinehurst No. 2 hosts the U.S. Open for the second time in six years. A Donald Ross design, No. 2 is known for its crowned greens that hold incoming golf balls about as well as the hood of a car. The greens are fast, difficult to read, and the greensides are the toughest in golf.
But off the tee, No. 2 is actually quite tame. Players can spray their tee shots and not have to worry about six-inch rough or hazards. Because of the difficulty of the greens, the USGA prefers to cut the rough much shorter than they do for most U.S. Opens, meaning Woods can be less than perfect off the tee and still be in contention.
The 1999 U.S. Open is remembered for Payne Stewart's dramatics on the 18th hole. Stewart canned a 15-footer to best Phil Mickelson by one stroke and win what would be his final major. Forgotten was the play of Woods, who missed a four-foot putt on the 17th hole, then barely missed a 20-footer on the final hole. He finished third, two strokes back of Stewart. Pinehurst No. 2 likes Tiger, too.
One year after Woods' heartbreak at Pinehurst, he won his first and only British Open at the Old Course at St. Andrews. The Old Course played into Tiger's strengths, providing large landing areas for tee shots and demanding great putting. Woods won by eight. This year's venue? The Old Course at St. Andrews. The Old Course likes Tiger, too.
That leaves the PGA Championship, held this year at the Lower Course at Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, New Jersey. Jack Nicklaus won the U.S. Open here twice, but the Lower Course has not hosted a major since 1993.
But the Lower Course will look a lot different in 2005 than it did when the best of the PGA Tour was here last. The classic A.W. Tillinghast design has been altered (read: lengthened) to accommodate the assembly of skill present at the PGA Championship. At almost 7,400 yards, the par 70 will place a premium on distance, allowing longer hitters to attack pins with shorter irons than shorter hitters. Baltusrol might like Woods, as well.
Speculating on a Woods Grand Slam is borderline absurd, especially this early in the season, but it merits mentioning. For Woods to ever win a Grand Slam, the courses that host the majors must allow for Tiger's mistakes — occasional inaccuracy with the driver — and play to his strengths — length, and touch around the greens. In other words, this is the year in which — to borrow the Kantian phrase — the condition of the possibility of a Woods Grand Slam is satisfied.
Winning the Grand Slam is something that the game's best, sans Bobby Jones, have not been able to do. It requires near perfect golf, endurance not found in 99 percent of the game's players, and ability to win without apology. The 2000 version of Woods possessed these qualities, and the result was four majors in a row. Should he return for the summer of 2005, we all may be in for a spectacle, one that would put to bed the debate over who is the world's best golfer.
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