Tiger Woods has been described as a freak of nature and his rivals could certainly be forgiven for thinking that he's super-human. Having thrashed the rest of the field by eight strokes at the Buick Invitational last month, Woods jetted east through a dozen time zones for the Desert Classic in Dubai, arriving in the morning and declaring that he wasn't even tired.
He went on to win the Desert Classic for the second time. Unlike California, he triumphed by just a single stroke; but he did so by making six birdies on the way back to the Emirates clubhouse, pulling off his biggest comeback in some eight years. However he does it, it's exciting; and this year could be his best yet.
Tiger reckons his swing is better now than ever before, better even than 2000 and 2001 when he won four consecutive majors.
"I think I'm a much better golfer now than I was, I've got a better understanding of how to get around a golf course. I've got more shots now than I did. I've a better understanding of how to fix my game when it's not going right and how to manage a round so that I don't let it slip away and shoot a high number.
"You're not always going to have your best stuff but you've still got a chance to win each and every week. Then, when you do have your good stuff, that's when you win by larger margins. I think that's the difference," he said.
His margins of victory these days might not be as big as the glory days of a decade ago when he could win majors by as many as 15 strokes, but his overall dominance now is greater than ever. Following the victory in Dubai, the gap between Woods and world No. 2 Phil Mickelson was as big as the gap between Mickelson and the player ranked 1,000th in the world.
Tiger won eight events last year -- banking over US$10 million in prize money -- but despite all the wealth, the fame and the acclaim, he remains as focused and dedicated as ever.
"Tomorrow is a chance to become better than I am today, that's the beauty of life. And the only way to become better tomorrow is to work your tail off today. And I enjoy that. I enjoy work. I always have," he said.
WORK ETHIC
For the source of his work ethic, Tiger says we should look no further than his Mom and Dad. And he acknowledges that the death of his father and mentor Earl, in May 2006, took a heavy toll on him personally and professionally.
"I tried to block it out; thought I was fine. But as everyone saw at the British Open, it hit home a lot deeper than I thought," he said.
Having won the Open at Hoylake in 2006, Tiger was inconsolable, crying into the arms of his friend and caddie Steve Williams. But by the time he'd won seven consecutive events in January last year, many assumed that the mourning was over.
Talk had turned to the imminent birth of his daughter and his thoughts on Byron Nelson's record winning streak.
Dark days were to follow, though. His once-feared killer instinct was notably absent at the Masters and the US Open and he was indifferent at the Wachovia and The Memorial. South Africa's Rory Sabatini said that Woods was "more beatable than ever, I like the new Tiger."
Williams talked of Tiger's loneliness, impatience and mood swings, and the man himself even confessed to a journalist in North Carolina that he'd spent the night staring at his hotel room clock, marking to the minute the anniversary of his father's death.
It wasn't until the birth of his daughter last summer that the pain of his loss began to subside. And since then, he's been noticeably different -- winning seven of his eight events up to and including Dubai. And the only tournament he didn't win -- the Deutsche Bank Championship -- he came second.
"I'm so much happier as a person now, especially since I lost my Dad the year before. When I became a Dad, it totally flipped how I was as a person," Tiger said.
And does being a Dad make him a better golfer?
"Without a doubt, without a doubt," he said.
Woods talks so fondly of his daughter that it's easy to forget the ruthless and intimidating manner in which he tames the world's best courses and destroys his opponents upon them.
Before his daughter was even born, Tiger had told me that he wanted a child who was brought up to "care and share." Woods himself continues to live by that code, investing so much energy in a fundraiser for his foundation in California that he missed his daughter's christening.
THE MAN TO BEAT
Even during his "slump" at the start of last year, Tiger remained the man to beat. And he's certainly the man to have at your golf tournament. He plays in less than 20 per year, and his lack of involvement can lead to the extinction of an event -- The International in Colorado, for example -- and even competitions with whom he has longstanding agreements will sadly recall "the year he didn't come."
Then there is the grand slam, the feat of winning all four major tournaments in a single season. Only the amateur Bobby Jones has ever done it -- in 1930 -- and no professional has done so in the modern era. Woods did complete his own "Tiger slam" in 2001 by winning The Open, The US Open, The PGA Championship and The Masters consecutively, but golf purists want to see it done in a calendar year.
"I've always said it is possible. You just have to win the right four tournaments. Can you have it peak four times a year? Conceivably yes but you also need to be lucky because you might have your game peak and somebody just outplays you. You may have one marginal shot and get a bad break and that costs you the tournament. Everything needs to go your way and hopefully one day that will happen," he said.
Woods doesn't take chances, but he might take the occasional calculated gamble. At the time of writing, the odds of him achieving the grand slam were listed as an extremely short 12 to 1. If he beats the bookies this year, he'll be just one major victory behind the all-time record set by Jack Nicklaus.
Don Riddell's full interview with Tiger Woods airs on CNN's Living Golf at 8:30pm on Saturday, March 1; 4:30pm and 10:30pm on Sunday, March 2; and 10:30pm on Monday, March 3.
Japan’s Shohei Ohtani is the record-breaking baseball “superhuman” following in the footsteps of the legendary Babe Ruth who has also earned comparisons to US sporting greats Michael Jordan and Tom Brady. Not since Ruth a century ago has there been a baseball player capable of both pitching and hitting at the top level. The 30-year-old’s performances with the Los Angeles Dodgers have consolidated his position as a baseball legend in the making, and a national icon in his native Japan. He continues to find new ways to amaze, this year becoming the first player to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases
Zhang Shuai yesterday said that she nearly quit after losing 24 matches in a row — now the world No. 595 is into the quarter-finals of her home China Open. The 35-year-old is to face Spain’s Paula Badosa as the lowest-ranked player to reach this stage in the history of the tournament after Badosa reeled off 11 of the last 12 games in a 6-4, 6-0 victory over US Open finalist Jessica Pegula. Zhang went into Beijing on a barren run lasting more than 600 days and her string of singles defeats was the second-longest on the WTA Tour Open era, which
Francesco Bagnaia yesterday profited from a mistake by rookie Pedro Acosta to win the Japan MotoGP sprint and close the gap on overall championship leader, Jorge Martin. Spaniard Acosta crashed with four laps to go while leading the field at Motegi, allowing defending world champion Bagnaia to take first ahead of Enea Bastianini and Marc Marquez. Spain’s Martin finished fourth and saw his overall lead over Italian Bagnaia in the championship standings cut to 15 points. “I am very happy because with these conditions, it’s not very easy to win and gain points,” Bagnaia said after a sprint race that took place under
Naomi Osaka is braced for a “battle” after yesterday setting up a clash with Coco Gauff in the round-of-16 of the China Open, while top seed Aryna Sabalenka also marched on. Osaka defeated 60th-ranked American Katie Volynets 6-3, 6-2 and next faces Gauff in a showdown of former US Open champions in Beijing. World No. 2 Sabalenka swatted aside Ashlyn Krueger 6-2, 6-2 for her 14th consecutive victory and plays another American in 24th-ranked Madison Keys. Looking ahead to the Gauff meeting, four-time Grand Slam champion Osaka said: “She’s very athletic, obviously.” “For me, my strongest traits are being aggressive and also my serve,
RSS