St. Andrews, Scotland – The two legends now are playing the back nine. Tiger Woods. Jack Nicklaus. This match will determine the best golfer in history. Winner takes honors from here to eternity.
During a seaside stroll around the Old Course, Woods picked up the Claret Jug on a bonny Sunday afternoon, winning the British Open as casually as plucking shells off the beach.
But the real game began 48 hours before Woods beat runner-up Colin Montgomerie and everybody else in the international field by at least five shots.
Crossing paths after the second round, as Nicklaus signed souvenirs from his last competitive tournament, the 65-year-old retiree glanced up and saw the 29-year-old Woods smiling at him like a Cheshire cat.
“Nice playing,” Nicklaus said.
“Thank you, sir,” replied Woods.
In their private match, the score now is: Golden Bear 18, Tiger 10. All that counts for the masters is the majors. Nothing else matters other than the most prestigious tourneys.
The pressure is on. Nicklaus better not get too comfortable in his rocking chair on the clubhouse porch. Woods is going to make him squirm. Think nobody’s keeping score? Think again.
“Jack’s got 18, now I have 10,” Woods said. “Man, I tell you what … When I started playing the Tour, I didn’t think I’d have this many majors before (age) 30. There’s no way. No one ever has. Usually, the golden years are in your 30s for a golfer.”
Nicklaus, who won his 10th major at age 32, insists he never took inventory of his shiniest trophies until the case already was overflowing.
“And I feel a little sorry for Tiger from that standpoint. They started counting for him before he won one,” the old gray Bear said.
But, for Tiger, it might actually be advantageous to be the hunter rather than the hunted. Nicklaus has given Woods a target, and fresh motivation, whether the task is to re-invent his swing or pump iron for two hours at the gym.
“It’s hard to get him to take a day off from anything,” said Hank Haney, swing guru to the world’s top-ranked player.
When the wind behaves and the sun bakes the Old Course, these links show every bit of their 140 years.
The greens turn crusty and the fairways go bald.
Woods treated the sport’s birthplace with all the reverence of a driving range, bombing shots an average of 341.5 yards off the tee.
Woods seized control of the tournament in its opening hours, and during the fourth round, competitors crept no closer than the distance deemed safe by four private body guards, who followed Tiger’s every step across 18 holes while decked out in Nike shirts.
“It’s hard to beat Tiger. I don’t think it’s impossible. But it’s close to impossible,” said Spain’s Jose Maria Olazabal, who finished six strokes behind Woods’ winning total of 14- under par.
As far as Woods hits the ball, he could in no time drive from St. Andrews across the Firth of Tay and into the dense Scottish woods home to J.K. Rowling, creator of Harry Potter. Maybe the author would be best to judge whether a strange set of circumstances is really golf magic.
It seems every time Nicklaus retires from one of golf’s grand slam events, Woods grabs the trophy on Big Jack’s way out the door.
Stranger, this extraordinary feat now has occurred five times. Nicklaus enjoyed his going-away party from St. Andrews so much in 2000, he put on his old blue argyle sweater and waved goodbye on the Swilcan Bridge again this summer.
As part of the celebration, the Royal Bank of Scotland issued real paper money, a 5 pounds sterling bank note, with a bear and the face of Nicklaus printed on every bill. At a butcher shop in town, where the scream cuisine of haggis can be found in the window in all its sheep liver glory, a meat cutter was asked last week what he thought of an American gracing local currency.
“Anybody but Tiger,” the butcher said.
Sorry. Golf has a new king. Hit the road, Jack.
Who rules the game now? Nobody but Tiger.
19th hole
YOU CAN DO THIS – Back nine pummels Pampling
Playing the first three rounds at St. Andrews in even-par, Rod Pampling was hoping for a stronger finish. But Sunday the Australian turned into a typical hacker on the back nine, losing seven strokes in four holes. He bogeyed No. 13, then took a triple bogey on the par-5 14th before another bogey and then a double bogey on No. 16. Last year’s champion of The International played the 423-yard 16th hole at 7-over for the week.
YOU CAN’T DO THIS – Faldo pulls off fantastic finish
How about picking up an extra $70,500 the final two holes? Nick Faldo, who won the 1990 British Open at St. Andrews, birdied the 17th hole and then putted for eagle from off the 18th green. The three-stroke swing moved him from a would-be tie for 32nd (had he parred out) to a tie for 11th at 6-under. “I walked behind the pin at the 18th and thought, ‘I fancy this’ – I haven’t fancied a putt all week,” Faldo told BBC Sport.
HOLE OF THE DAY – No. 12, par 4, 348 yards
Tiger Woods came to this hole with a two-shot lead. But just after Colin Montgomerie made bogey on the hole ahead, Woods chipped it close for a birdie that extended his lead to four shots.
