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Head man Tiger plays a tough mental game, too
Posted: Wednesday June 14, 2000 03:33 PM
By Jim Huber, CNNSI.com PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. -- They play mental games at Pebble Beach this week. It has always been thus at a U.S. Open, pretending it is just another tournament, played on just another course. But while some might be able to accomplish that, they will never be able to pretend that Tiger Woods isn't in the field. That is both the aura and the edge that the world's No. 1 player brings. Not just here but every week he plays. "I've always felt that I've always had a mental edge over a lot of my opponents," Woods said. "It doesn't mean I have the physical ability to back it up. But I always felt that I could play with them mentally. I had the desire to win. I wanted to beat you. But sometimes my physical abilities weren't there." The lack of "physical abilities" is something Woods' fellow golfers rarely see these days. "Every time he tees it up, he's the man to beat these days," said Nick Faldo who has missed the Open cut two straight years. "But this week is going to require a lot of patience. And if he's got his patience hat on with him this week, I think he's going to be tough to beat." 
Steve Stricker, who has finished in fifth in the last two U.S. Opens, knows all about Tiger's mental edge. "He's got both of them, the game and the mental side," he said. "He's probably right, his mental approach is probably just as strong as his game or better and that's why he's playing so well and winning so much." With four wins this year, Woods is an overwhelming favorite to capture his third major championship. But while he's confident, he claims the noise of the trumpets doesn't bother him.
"To be honest with you, it really doesn't because I don't really pay attention to it," he says. "I'm trying to get ready. I generally don't read any of the articles or watch the TV when it comes on to the golf. I kind of turn away from it." Scott Hoch, who has also missed the last two cuts of this event, speaks highly of Woods mental toughness. "His mind set going out to the tournament is probably better than anybody else out here because even since he got in here, he went out expecting to win." Hoch then made another point of what separates Woods from the rest of the field. "I think a lot of us will say that, but maybe not so many really believe that." Tiger turns away from all of that, focusing instead on the job at hand, somehow conquering one of the great golf courses in the world twice in six months. In fact, he's had a first, second and a third in his four stops at Pebble Beach as a professional. How would Woods like his conditions this week? "If the wind blows, great. I'm going to go out there and strike the ball the best I can. The harder the conditions, the better it favors the person playing well. Obviously as you know, the wind accentuates bad shots. And if I can go out there and play well at the level I have been playing at, with the wind, I think I can do all right." As if he needs more mental ammunition, Tiger won the AT&T National Pro-Am here just five months ago. Should he go on to win the U.S. Open this week, he would become the first player since Jack Nicklaus in 1972 to win both the Open and a tour event at the same course in the same year. That kind of company is becoming more frequent every day it seems.
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