Tiger, Tiger, Fading Out

When 21-year-old Tiger Woods won the Masters in 1997 by 12 strokes I broke a personal rule and headed my weekly column “Tiger, Tiger, Burning Bright” even though that hed had already been widely used. I wrote Fridays at the time, five days after that ridiculous win. My rationale was that it was better to be good than original. Kipling got the essence of the moment. 

Now the burn seems to be fading. Watching Tiger not be competitive in big golf tournaments is like watching the tide not come in. Forces of nature may not need rooters. Some people take pleasure in rooting against them. It’s a question of taste. I’m a Yankees fan in baseball and a Habs fan in hockey and though I’m a longtime Giants fan in football it was upsetting when the universe did not unfold as it should have and the Giants beat the Patriots on a great but fluky catch by a receiver who never made another catch--great, fluky or whatever. 

Tiger no longer seems a force of nature. At 35 he would be a waning force of nature in any case. The Yankees, Canadiens, Patriots and Giants have all had their fallow periods. I hope he can come back. Tiger at his peak is something to behold. If the knee can be fixed, if he can build a workaround stroke, there’s still time to catch Nicklaus in majors. (Can the knee be repaired? In Tiger Woods: How I Play Golf the 25-year old Tiger explained: “For more yards, I ‘snap’ my left leg...I’ve found that by snapping my left leg straight, my hips clear faster and speed up the movement of my shoulders, arms and legs.” It doesn’t sound like something you can do years on end.)

But I’ve been reading Dan Jenkins‘ Fairways and Greens and am beginning to think that even if Tiger does get 21 majors (we’re counting US amateur titles here), he still may not equal Nicklaus. Jenkins has a table showing firsts and seconds in major tournaments. Nicklaus won 20 but was second in another 19. At the time that book came out, his total of 39 was 20 more than--almost double--the next best, Bobby Jones. Arnold Palmer was third at 18, Ben Hogan fourth with 16. 

Tiger has passed Jones for second place, with 14 wins and six second place finishes (including ties). That leaves him 19 behind Nicklaus. Maybe second place shouldn’t count. Maybe the competition wasn’t as deep in earlier decades as it is now. Still, 39 golds and silvers. Talent contests are like approach shots, close does count.