Golf: Tiger the phenomenon rolls on to new peak

ST ANDREWS - On the eve of the 129th British Open Championship there was a nostalgic parade of the past champions.

Some of the greatest names in the game were collectively saluted on the Old Course.

Yesterday, Tiger Woods, who is certainly the greatest player of these times and may one day be considered the best ever, received his own benediction at the home of golf.

As has been obvious for some time, not even the best of the rest are in the same class as Woods.

Ernie Els and Thomas Bjorn did their best to provide a competitive contest on the final day of the millennium Open, yet Woods still turned the closing stage of a major into his own personal fanfare, winning by eight strokes.

This was already a special championship, but by lifting the silver Claret Jug for the first time, Woods ensured his place in history.

At 24, he is the youngest to complete a career Grand Slam, but most significantly, he is only the fifth to achieve the feat after Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus.

"Oh, man," Woods said when handed the trophy. "This has been an incredible week.

"To have the opportunity to complete the slam at the Open at St Andrews, the home of golf, is something I will never ever forget."

Of the distinguished quartet he has now joined, he said: "Those are true champions and they have won countless tournaments and have been the cream of the crop.

"To be in the same breath as those guys makes it very special, I guess."

It took Woods 15 majors to claim all four titles, three fewer than Nicklaus. The Golden Bear went on to do the Grand Slam three times over, claiming 18 majors in total, but Tiger is on the chase.

"I have been fortunate to have my game peak at the right times," he said. "You need to peak four times a year and you hope, wish and plan to do it, but for it to actually happen is great. I've exceeded a few of my goals, but I'm behind on a couple of others. Hopefully, I'll continue to have the success I've had. I'll keep working hard and see what happens."

Woods is also only the sixth player to win both the British and United States Opens in the same summer, Tom Watson being the last in 1982.

He won the 100th US Open by 15 strokes and the margin at St Andrews was eight.

Old Tom Morris' 13 strokes from 1862 still stands, but Woods did claim the record for the lowest score to par in majors. At 19 under, he passed Nick Faldo's score at St Andrews in 1990 and his own score at Augusta in 1997 by one.

If Woods was hoping for the Old Course to challenge him, only a light breeze graced the links for the fourth day running.

Though remaining essentially conservative in his approach but continuing to hole the putts that mattered, Woods scored a 69 to become the third champion, after Greg Norman and Nick Price, to have four rounds in the 60s.

"I couldn't care less about the scoring record, all I wanted was four straight rounds in the 60s," he said. "That was something I did not do at Pebble Beach or at Augusta."

As for the bunkers being a hazard, he added: "I was in a bunker every day I've been here, but it was on the practice range."

Woods, who turned pro in 1996 after winning three US amateur titles, has now won 27 times in 102 tournaments. But it is since completing his swing changes in May last year that he has dominated the game like few before.

In the past 14 months he has won 16 times in 29 events.

Last year he earned £4.4 million, and the 500,000 Pound cheque he received yesterday took his season's tally to 3.75 million Pounds.

He is not just the most technically gifted, the mostly mentally strong, but the fittest and the most ambitious. "The guy is simply in a different league," Faldo said.

The real problem for Woods' opponents was summed up by American Paul Azinger.

"What really stinks is the fact that you can't control him.

"In every other sport you can control your opponent, except for this one."

- INDEPENDENT