The Comeback Kid

A couple of times during the tournament, Woods talked by phone to instructor Butch Harmon, who is also Greg Norman's teacher. Woods and Harmon have worked together only twice in person, but they exchange videotapes and faxes on a regular basis. Harmon watched the Amateur from Anaheim, where he was attending the PGA West Coast Merchandise Show. As he saw Woods walk up the 18th fairway, there were tears in his eyes; he was happy not only for his pupil but also for what Woods's success means for golf. "This young man is one of the best young players to come out of this country in a long, long time," Harmon said. "That's the good news. The bad news is that he has to live up to it now."

Woods still has to register for the fall semester as a freshman at Stanford, where all but one member returns from the 1994 NCAA-championship golf team. But will Woods remain in school for four years, shunning the pro tour and earning his degree, as Phil Mickelson did after winning both the Amateur and NCAA titles in 1990 while at Arizona State? The millions Mickelson has made in endorsement contracts may seem like petty cash compared with the money that golf equipment and clothing companies are now likely to throw at a dream teen named Tiger, especially in the wake of this historic victory.

"We're not parents who are out for the money," Kultida says. "I always tell Tiger that golf is not a priority. Nobody can take an education away from you, especially a degree at Stanford."

Nevertheless, it will not become any easier for Tiger, or his parents, to ignore the lure of the pro tour, especially now that he has been stamped with the undeniable look of a future superstar. Curiously, it was a victory that almost never happened. Woods's 11th-hour heroics in the Amateur actually began three weeks ago. After Woods won the Western Amateur in Benton Harbor, Mich., he and his father dashed to Chicago for a flight to California, where Tiger had to qualify for the U.S. Amateur the next morning in Chino Hills. However, traffic on the way to O'Hare turned a 90-minute drive into a three-hour ordeal, and the Woodses missed their plane. They had to stand by for the last flight out, knowing that if Tiger didn't get on that plane, he would not make his tee time—and would not be able to compete in the Amateur.

"I prayed, and my prayers were answered," says Earl. "Thank God we got on that damn airplane."