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On the Course Woods’ great mental game leads to victory
Posted: Sunday March 19, 2000 07:49 PM
By Gary Van Sickle, Sports Illustrated ORLANDO -- We've seen Tiger Woods win 18 times now and we've seen him do it in any number of ways -- with amazing displays of power, uncanny putting, brilliant iron play, unbelievable comebacks and even winning it when he was playing less than his best. At Bay Hill, we saw him win playing conservatively, like Alan Greenspan on the links. Woods turned conservative when his lead widened to five shots after the fourth hole Sunday at the Bay Hill Invitational. He didn't use his driver much off the tee, just simply settled for hitting fairways, hitting the middle of greens and lag-putting for pars. Davis Love III managed to briefly get as close as two shots back on the final nine but mounted no serious challenge. Woods knew pars were going to be good enough on the tough Bay Hill setup and they were. He didn't make a bogey and won his 18th PGA Tour title by four strokes. The bad news was reaffirmation of what most tour players already knew: Not only does Woods have the most physical talents on tour, he's got a great mental game, too, perhaps as good as Jack Nicklaus, who was known for his superb course management skills. Add those features to an intimidation factor and you've got a dominant player that tour players are finding difficult to beat. Woods has won 12 of his last 23 tournaments, an extended stretch of superlative golf the tour probably hasn't seen since Byron Nelson won 19 tournaments in 1945. Woods is also piling up coveted trophies the way kids collect Pokemon cards. He had talked about wanting to win at Bay Hill because Arnold Palmer is the tournament host. Woods has already won the Memorial Tournament, founded by Jack Nicklaus, and the GTE Byron Nelson Classic. Throw in the Masters, founded by legendary Bobby Jones, and the only tournament associated with a classic player that Woods hasn't won yet is the MasterCard Colonial, where Ben Hogan once ruled. Woods win wasn't his first at Bay Hill. In 1991, he won the USGA Junior Amateur, the first of six straight USGA titles for him. This victory also added another steel beam in his invincible front-runner reputation, since Woods has won 13 consecutive times on the PGA Tour when he led or shared the lead after 54 holes. There wasn't any doubt about who was going to be the favorite going into the year's first major championship, next month's Masters Tournament, and Woods' impressive victory here made sure he will go in as an overwhelming favorite. "I'm heading in the right direction for Augusta," Woods admitted. "The ultimate goal is to peak four times a year. But I've still got a lot of things to work on." A lot of things to work on... still? Now that's a scary thought.
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