Mind Over Golf Gives Woods Western Win

Even when he was a teenager, Tiger Woods’ power and shot-making skill ranked him with the world’s best golfers. Now 21, he has added the mental game.

He thinks, therefore he wins.

Woods birdied three consecutive par-three holes, almost making a hole-in-one on the 14th with “the golfing gods definitely looking down upon me,” and went on to take the Western Open by three strokes Sunday. It was his fourth victory this year and sixth in 21 events since turning pro in August.

“It’s a positive because I won with my mind,” said Woods, who is looking forward to the British Open in two weeks. “I didn’t drive the ball particularly well. My putting came in spurts. So it’s nice to win a tournament with your mind. That’s what wins majors.”

Woods has come to depend upon his mental strength.

“If I play my normal game, I should be able to win out here on tour,” he said. “The biggest thing is to have the belief that you can win every tournament going in. A lot of guys don’t have that. [Jack] Nicklaus had it. . . . He felt he was going to beat everybody.”

Though Woods drew gasps from the overflow crowds with his 320-yard-plus drives, he often missed the fairway. He had the patience to respond conservatively on those occasions and the aggressiveness to go right at holes when opportunities presented themselves--as was the case on the par-threes.

His tee shot on the last of Cog Hill Dubsdread’s par-threes, the 167-yard 14th, sailed right, but the ball hit the fringe, bounced back and rolled to within inches of the hole. Woods seemed almost embarrassed. He reacted to the fans’ roars by smiling sheepishly and shrugging. Woods then tapped in for his third two to take the lead for good at 12 under par.

“That was like a knife in the back when he made two there,” said Frank Nobilo of New Zealand, who had briefly pulled into a tie for the lead. “When he’s in a position to win, he hardly ever goes backward.”

Said Woods, who finished with a 13-under-par 275 total: “I overcut the shot. It wasn’t a very good shot. It almost went into the bunker. I got a good break.”

He made his own breaks, too, going three-under on the four par-threes to overcome shooting “only” two-under on the four par-fives.

“The par-threes saved me and won me the tournament,” he said.

Woods followed his par-three birdie binge with a birdie on the par-five 15th. He finished with pars on 16, 17 and 18 as his gallery grew and grew.

The attendance Sunday was a tournament-record 49,462.

As he walked to the 18th green after putting his second shot safely on, the gallery burst through the ropes and followed him up the fairway, a scene common at the British Open but rare in the United States.

“I didn’t really see them,” Woods said. “I was facing forward. I didn’t want to look back. I definitely heard them.”

Why didn’t he look back?

“It does no good,” he said. “I have to finish out the hole. Finishing out the hole is not behind me.”

All the other golfers were behind him. Nobilo was three strokes back. Justin Leonard, Steve Lowery and Jeff Sluman finished four out.

Woods’ $360,000 winner’s check gives him $1,761,033 in earnings this season. Only a huge slump will keep him from becoming the first golfer to make $2 million in a season. As it is, he’s less than $20,000 behind the record Tom Lehman set last year.

“I don’t think about that,” Woods said. “The money takes care of itself. I just want to win tournaments.”

He’s pretty good at that.

Woods is the second-youngest person in the history of pro golf to reach six victories. Horton Smith, who played in the 1920s, had seven before he turned 21.

Four wins in 13 starts this year puts Woods in the company of some all-time greats. Nicklaus won seven of 18 in 1973 and Jimmy Demaret six of 12 in 1940. Ben Hogan had the best year ever, winning five of six events in 1953, including the Masters, the U.S. Open and the British Open.

Woods’ other five victories came at the Masters, Byron Nelson Classic and Mercedes Championships this year and the Las Vegas Invitational and Disney Classic in 1996.

He had been struggling, failing to break par in 11 of 12 rounds and finishing 67th, 19th and 43rd in his previous three events. He took a week off and said the rest rejuvenated him.

He entered Sunday tied for the lead with Loren Roberts and Leonard.

Roberts, who was paired with Woods, stayed close until No. 9. But while Roberts bogeyed that hole, Woods parlayed a 329-yard drive into a birdie for a three-stroke lead over Roberts.

As Woods bogeyed No. 10, Leonard and Lowery birdied 11 to pull into a tie. But Woods birdied three of the next four holes and Leonard and Lowery got bogeys on 13.

Since 1990, only three other golfers have four tour victories in a season--Nick Price (1993 and 1994), Wayne Levi (1990) and Phil Mickelson (1996).

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Making Tracks

What Tiger Woods accomplished with his victory at the Western Open:

* Leads PGA Tour money list with $1,761,033, only $20,000 off the all-time single-season record.

* Leads PGA Tour with four victories (in 13 starts) in 1997 and has six lifetime victories.

* Leads United States’ Ryder Cup standings.

* 89th on the all-time PGA money list with $2,551,627.

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The Class of ’97

Tiger Woods’ season at a glance:

Jan. 12...Mercedes Championships

* Finish: 1st

* Earnings: $216,000

Jan. 26...Phoenix Open

* Finish: 18th

* Earnings: $20,250

Feb. 2...Pebble Beach

* Finish: Tied for 2nd

* Earnings: $167,200

March 2...Nissan Open

* Finish: Tied for 20th

* Earnings: $14,600

March 23...Bay Hill Invitational

* Finish: Tied for 9th

* Earnings: $42,000

March 30...Players Championship

* Finish: Tied for 31st

* Earnings: $20,300

April 13...Masters

* Finish: 1st

* Earnings: $486,000

May 18...Byron Nelson

* Finish: 1st

* Earnings: $324,000

May 25...MasterCard Colonial

* Finish: Tied for 4th

* Earnings: $70,400

June 1...Memorial Tournament

* Finish: Tied for 67th

* Earnings: $3,800

June 15...U.S. Open

* Finish: Tied for 19th

* Earnings: $31,916

June 22...Buick Classic

* Finish: Tied for 43rd

* Earnings: $4,568

July 6...Western Open

* Finish: 1st

* Earnings: $360,000