The Week: What's Right With Tiger

Turns out Woods is only human. Is that bad?

By Jim Gorant

Did you hear it? The golf world emitted a strange noise last week. It rumbled in the gathering horde following John Daly down the fairway. It clicked in the endless collisions of Vijay Singh's club and practice-range balls. It echoed in the relieved sigh of Jack Nicklaus, holder of the record for most majors won. It sounded like this: "I have a balance in my life. You start realizing that golf is not the end of all things. It is what we do, but it does not define you."

Tiger's big day could come as soon as May. Robert Beck

Who was it curling up into the "there's-more-to-life-than-this" crouch usually reserved for losers? Phil Mickelson? Colin Montgomerie? No, it was Tiger Woods, the same person who, at five, said on national TV, "When I get big I'm going to beat Jack Nicklaus." The teen who dominated amateur golf. The player who barged onto the Tour in 1996 with such single-minded determination that he chose not to befriend other Tour players and practiced, worked out and played like no one before.

That approach catapulted him to immediate wealth and victory, and then to his amazing 2000, a season he so dominated with his skill and drive that it seemed only time stood between him and Nicklaus's record of 18 majors. But with the exception of an occasional press-conference one-liner, Tiger seemed not so much a person but a drone, a golf machine molded by his Green Beret father, Earl.

Then it happened. On Nov. 25, Woods became engaged to Elin Nordegren, and last week he canceled his appearance at the May 20-23 Deutsche Bank SAP-Open, which he has won three times, for personal reasons, setting off speculation that wedding bells would ring that week. "By having a balance in your life, it makes things much more harmonic," said Woods. "I have great people around me, Elin is fantastic for me. I have great friends and hobbies that I love to do to get away." Harmonic? Hobbies? Oh, my!

It hasn't helped that Tiger's game has not looked so sharp as he's gone winless in majors since the 2002 U.S. Open. He has regained his stature off the tee, climbing to second in driving distance (304.7 yards) after falling to 11th last year, but he's missing fairways on both sides, which isn't good. And despite five wins last year, he also put up a string of his worst pro finishes, including a 26th at the Tour Championship, a 39th at the PGA and a 20th at the U.S. Open.

"A wife can sometimes be a deterrent to a good game of golf," Earl Woods once prophesied. Of course, Pops is not the only seer Tiger has failed to heed of late. Earlier this year he officially cut ties with swing coach Butch Harmon. Tiger, who won 31 tournaments and eight majors in 6 1/2 years with Butch, has won seven events and no majors since unofficially splitting with Harmon in mid-2002.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Tour has closed the gap on Tiger through improved fitness, better technology and a Woodsian devotion to practice that's best exemplified by the unyielding Singh. Tiger claims he's as dedicated to winning as ever, and as he often does when challenged, he'll probably win soon -- most likely at Bay Hill in three weeks -- but even if he does, something at the core of the golf landscape has shifted. Number 1 has forsaken his monomania for winning in favor of family, friends and fun.

Tiger has gotten a life, and that sounds O.K.

Heard on the Range

Defending Masters champ Mike Weir says he'll serve caribou at this year's champions' dinner. Now he has to find a chef in Georgia who knows how to cook it.... They loved John Daly at Torrey Pines, but they didn't take kindly to Garry Edwards, the caddie for 2003 Q school winner Mathias Gronberg. First, a security guard had to redirect Edwards to a secondary parking lot during the Buick Invitational, then another guard denied him entrance because he had the wrong gate pass. A heated argument ensued and, as a result, the 6'3", 250-pound looper spent 45 minutes cooling off in handcuffs.... For many players, something was missing at the Nissan Open: the statue of Ben Hogan that for years has stood above the 18th green at Riviera, where Hogan won back-to-back tournaments in 1947-48. Ben was removed to have a few minor cracks repaired.... On Thursday at Riviera, Kevin Sutherland putted his second shot into the notorious bunker in the middle of the 6th green. After holing out from the sand for a most unusual 3, his caddie, John Wood, noted, "I'll bet that's the first time a guy hit a green in regulation and had a sand save on the same hole." ... During the second round of the Malaysian Open, Colin Montgomerie had a black cat cross his path and was splattered by bird droppings as well. "Some of the guys said they were both a sign of luck," said Monty, who shot a six-under 66, "but I didn't see the lucky side." ... Upon learning that his friend Bob Gilder would be flying with the Blue Angels as a reward for winning last year's Emerald Coast Classic, 1981 U.S. Open winner David Graham had this advice: "Don't eat dinner and don't eat breakfast." -- J.G. and Farrell Evans

Issue date: March 1, 2004