The 19^th Hole

January 28, 2007

What More Can You Say?

After one round of the Buick Invitational, Tiger Woods trailed tournament leader and Tour rookie Brandt Snedeker by five shots – Woods’ 66 could not touch Snedeker’s 61 on the North Course at Torrey Pines.  The quest for his seventh consecutive PGA Tour victory seemed to be starting off the wrong way.  At least, it appeared that way to the untrained eye.  To the more seasoned Woods observer, the tournament was already done.

In each round, Woods moved up the leaderboard and climbed closer to the top spot.  By the time Sunday rolled around, Woods was in position to take his third straight Buick Invitational from two Tour rookies (Snedeker and Andrew Buckle) and a veteran that just cannot seem to close the door in Charles Howell III.  For someone like Tiger Woods, that is an opportunity to shine and to succeed.  It was not as though Woods was facing Vijay Singh and Phil Mickelson to get to the title – neither was anywhere near the lead during the week.

Woods calmly went out on the difficult South Course, which played at a stroke average of nearly 74, and fired a front-side 32 that propelled him to the lead.  As soon as the words “Tiger” and “lead” were spoken in the same sentence, the gallery knew who the champion would be.  Though Woods got himself into trouble a few times on the back nine, his short game was clutch and putting steady as he held on to win the tournament by two shots.

It can be easy to get caught up in all of this talk of Woods challenging the late Byron Nelson’s record of 11 straight victories and lose sight of the level of achievement at his grasp.  Woods already has 55 PGA Tour victories and 12 major championships among them.  He owns the consecutive cuts made streak with an unreal 142 tournament stretch that interestingly enough ended at the Byron Nelson Championship.  Don’t forget the Tiger Slam, either. 

The bottom line is that Tiger Woods, at just over 30 years of age, is in position to cement himself as the holder of EVERY significant record in the history of the PGA Tour – and golf in general.  This is Tiger’s ultimate revenge on all of the people who were ready to bury his career after he made significant swing changes twice in his career in pursuit of a more perfect game.  Just a few short years ago, during the so-called slump, Woods had to endure a constant onslaught of doubt and disappointment that the train ride toward history may be derailed because he wanted to tinker with the swing that led him to a Tiger Slam.  Now, those same detractors are kissing up to Woods and proclaiming this streak of his as the greatest thing to happen to golf since, well, Tiger Woods.

For the record, I can remember not bemoaning Woods while he was making these changes.  It turned out to be great for Woods (obviously), but it also allowed guys like Lefty and Vijay to shine for a few glistening seasons.  Woods’ voluntary dip into mediocrity allowed for the media invention of the Big 5.  Then Tiger came back into the air that only he appears able to occupy and destroy any notion that he is not the supreme player in golf. 

Hell, right now, Nicklaus, Palmer, and Nelson in their primes playing best ball against Woods would be the only challenge that Tiger might not be able to conquer.  Any other golfer or team of golfers is apparently incapable of withstanding a challenge from Woods.  To their credit, Snedeker (71), CH3 (68), and Andrew Buckle (72) did not back down from Woods’ advance on Sunday – as is common practice.  Still, they were no match for Tiger and history.

The most remarkable part of all of this is that Tiger denies that he really has any kind of winning streak going.  In his mind, the streak ended when the US got pummeled in the Ryder Cup.  He did not win at the HSBC World Match Play, Dunlop Phoenix, or HSBC Champions events during the off-season.  Woods was victorious in the Target World Challenge, the off season event that he hosts to benefit his foundation, though.  Coupled with his Buick Invitational victory, Woods would tell you he has won two in a row.

In essence, that means Tiger feels that he is under no real pressure to challenge Nelson’s streak.  After all, Nelson won 11 consecutive tournaments and that streak has always been thought of as such.  Until this victory, it had never really been defined as “Nelson’s 11 consecutive PGA Tour wins” streak.  The PGA Tour as we know it did not even exist in 1945 when Nelson did what he did.

That makes the proposition even scarier for the competition on the PGA Tour.  Woods could easily win his next 4 PGA Tour starts, including the WGC Accenture Match Play, and simply feel that he is on a seven event winning streak.  (He is defending his title at the Euro Tour’s Dubai Desert Classic during this hypothetical stretch.)  That is something he has done before, on multiple occasions, in his career.  He knows what the pressure of that situation is like and I would be inclined to say that it is much less pressure than trying to extend a double-digit win streak.

Then again, only one man has ever known what that kind of pressure was like.  With Byron Nelson gone from out midst, it would only be appropriate that Tiger Woods would be the next to experience a run of these proportions.

Ryan Ballengee is host of The 19th Hole Golf Show, found at The Golf Newsnet.com.  Having graduated from the University of Maryland in 2004 and 2006, Ballengee brings the perspective of the younger golf fan to the microphone and his columns.  Over the nearly five years he has been broadcasting and writing, Ballengee has developed a reputation for a unique interviewing style that asks both the difficult and fun questions. You can also get The 19th Hole on the go through podcasting by clicking here The Golf Newsnet Contact Ryan via e-mail at the19thholeshow@hotmail.com.