The Week: On to Hazeltine

Tiger Woods tuned up for the PGA with a ho-hum victory at the Buick Open

By Alan Shipnuck

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Tiger Woods never stops making history. Last week he became the first PGA Tour player to announce on his website that nude Internet photos of his Swedish girlfriend are inauthentic. With a victory at the Buick Open, at Warwick Hills Country Club in Grand Blanc, Mich., Woods also continued his pursuit of the unprecedented Buick Slam -- counting his win at the 1998 Buick Invitational in San Diego, he is now halfway home. This week Woods will be chasing another record, one that's slightly more important: With a victory at the PGA Championship he will become the first player to win three majors in a season more than once.

"After what I saw the last two days, I think everyone better watch out," says Mark O'Meara, who was paired with Woods for the first two rounds in Grand Blanc. Yes, it took exactly two weeks for the buzz to die down on Ernie Els's supposedly tide-turning British Open victory. The glum reality is that once again Woods played exceedingly mediocre golf on the weekend yet still won going away, this time by four strokes over one of the strongest fields in Buick Open history. The keynote round was Friday's 63, which featured some breathtaking ball striking, including what he called "a nice, soft cut two-iron" from 266 yards over a grove of trees to set up an eagle on the 15th hole.

Woods uncorked a series of loose swings on the weekend but subdued the competition with masterly putting and brainy course management. Even Woods's caddie, Steve Williams, had his game face on. On Sunday he confronted a heckler by barking, "If you don't shut your mouth, I'm going to come over there and shut it for you."

As Woods storms into the PGA, the question is: Who can hope to quiet him, especially on a long, generously proportioned course like Hazeltine? World No. 2 Phil Mickelson made 10 bogeys and three doubles at the Buick -- and that was a drastic improvement over his play at the previous week's International, during which he shot an unofficial 85 (under the modified Stableford system) in the second round. David Duval has missed four straight cuts in the U.S., while Els never made it to the starting line in Grand Blanc, withdrawing so he could relax at home in Orlando.

It seems we're back in the familiar territory where Woods is competing mainly against himself. When his Grand Slam dream went kaput at last month's British Open there was speculation that Woods might have trouble getting motivated for the PGA. He addressed this, too, on tigerwoods.com. (He is becoming increasingly like the Wizard of Oz, hiding behind the curtain of his machinery.) "From what I've heard, some people expect me to have a letdown at the PGA Championship, which I find amusing," Woods wrote. "How can you have a letdown? It's a major championship and the last one of the year."

The competition should consider itself forewarned.

O.B.