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Still more Tiger
Posted: Thursday June 29, 2000 12:59 PM
Sports Illustrated senior writer Gary Van Sickle will answer your questions every Thursday during the golf season. Click here to send him a question. Despite Tiger Woods' dominance of the U.S. Open, Pebble Beach proved itself again as a totally worthy site. The Open should go back there as soon as possible. "We could play the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach every year and everybody would be ecstatic," Justin Leonard said at the Canon Greater Hartford Open. The best Open courses, in my opinion, are Pebble and Shinnecock Hills. The Open should go back to them every five years. I'm not sold on Oakland Hills and Olympic Club as Open sites, but I'd like to see an Open at Spyglass Hill (next door to Pebble), Merion, The Country Club and Oak Hill. Mail call:
Did Tiger's performance at Pebble Beach pretty much close the debate on Player of the Year honors? Leading up to the Open, journalists seemed to be anxious to find anybody but Tiger for the award this year. What would it take to beat him out of the honor? It's more over than a Russian election, Joe. Somebody would have to win the last two majors and at least three other tournaments to have a chance. Seen anybody other than Hal Sutton who looks as if he can handle Tiger? After Pebble Beach, even Superman might have his hands full.
If you were to take the amount of money that Tiger Woods' caddie has made this year, where would that rank on the PGA money list? There is no standard caddie fee, but at 7% of Tiger's $4.9 million in earnings, Steve Williams would have $346,481, which would rank him 83rd, right behind Jean Van De Velde. At 10%, Williams would rank 50th.
You wrote that the USGA does not go to clubs and ask them to host Opens, no matter how worthy they are. Well, I've got news for you. The USGA comes every year to L.A. Country Club with its tail between its legs, begging the club to hold an Open on the North Course, and every year the members decline. The USGA needs L.A. Country Club a lot more than L.A. Country Club needs the Open. By the way, LACC will never hold an Open, but it holds other amateur USGA events. Yeah, I imagine the USGA will probably just cancel the Open if it can't get The Great L.A. Country Club to hold it. Looks like we're stuck with crummy old Shinnecock Hills and Pinehurst No. 2 and Pebble Beach. Let me guess, you wear your LACC blazer to bed, right?
Tiger keeps saying he feels he can get better. He is fifth in the Tour's putting stats, a scary thought. Can he dominate the field to an even greater extent than he already has? Only if he played more. But then he'd probably get bored and not play as well. Like Jack Nicklaus, part of Tiger's secret is priming himself to play his best without burning out. So don't look for him at Hartford and Milwaukee anytime soon.
Are the ladies really as bad as they appeared during the final round of the McDonald's LPGA Championship? I know it was a major with a major setup, but many gals looked amateurish with their short games. Maybe my pupils are still dilated from Tiger's magical mystery show at Pebble, but I felt like I was watching the equivalent of the WNBA out on the links. All golfers pale when compared to Tiger. The ladies are a talented bunch, with a lot of good ballstrikers. Karrie Webb could play with anyone. Same with Laura Davies. I do agree that the biggest difference between the LPGA and PGA tours, other than the distance off the tee, is the short game around the greens. The women don't wield sand wedges anywhere near as well as the men, which I find surprising. And I have no idea why.
I was wondering when you were going to do a piece on Softspikes, about how they shape they way we play golf, their effect on greens and their use on the PGA Tour? What's there to say? Most courses don't allow metal spikes. Greens everywhere are smoother. A majority of Tour pros wear non-metal spikes for comfort reasons. I'm sure greens superintendents everywhere think it's the greatest change ever. It makes their jobs a lot easier.
Click here to send your golf question to Gary Van Sickle.
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