A Hard Worker Works Harder

Now here’s a scary thought. Tiger Woods is playing better right now than he was last year at this time.

It’s enough to make you forget that he is in the first sort-of-slump in his brief 32-tournament career, going winless on the PGA Tour for eight months.

“I’m driving better, my iron play is more crisp, my distance control is better, I’m putting better, my sand saves are a lot better,” Woods said after a practice round last week at the Doral-Ryder Open.

“So my overall package is better and I think because of that you’ve seen me in contention this year a majority of the time,” he said. “And that’s awfully nice.”

And the really scary thing is that the man is being modest.

He hasn’t been in contention a majority of the time. He’s been in contention almost all of the time, finishing second twice and third once in the three PGA Tour events he’s completed this year.

And the one tournament he’s played outside the United States--the Johnnie Walker Classic in Thailand--he won against a field that included Ernie Els and Greg Norman.

Only at the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am--which has been between the second and third round going on five weeks now--was Woods anywhere approaching ordinary.

Woods started out last season--his first full year on the PGA Tour--like he was going to overwhelm the competition.

After he won the season-opening Mercedes Championships, some observers were speculating that he would win 10 times on tour.

After he won the Masters, some who should know better were talking about Woods sweeping the Grand Slam in a matter-of-fact way that overlooked the slight detail that it had never been done.

But the cold sting of reality began at the U.S. Open in June where Woods not only saw his run at the Grand Slam end, but where he never really contended.

At the Western Open the first week of July, he won for the last time in 1997. Except for that victory in Thailand in January, he hasn’t won since.

Woods explains his lack of production in the second half of 1997 by saying that the demands of playing fulltime for the first time in his life and the added demands brought on by his celebrity status had him mentally exhausted by June and physically exhausted by August.

In part, Woods explains his relentlessly consistent play this year by the lessons he learned in his first swing around the circuit last year.

“Last year I played a lot and I didn’t really know what to expect,” Woods said. “And not knowing what to expect, how long the season is, and how to pace yourself correctly on and off the course, that took its toll on me.”

Woods certainly appears much more comfortable with his celebrity status than he was last year. And he seems to have used the realization he reached last year that it is extremely tough to win week after week on the PGA Tour to a competitive advantage.

“I think this year it’s also a reflection of good, hard work, too,” Woods said.

So what we have here is one of the hardest workers in golf saying that he is working harder.

The question last year at this time was this: Who will rise to the challenge of Tiger Woods? Now that he has raised the bar, who will go over it with him?

The answer by the end of the year was this: A lot of people accepted that challenge. Els, Justin Leonard, Davis Love III and David Duval were among those who raised the level of their games.

So now we have a new question.

Has Tiger himself raised the level of his own game? Has his first full year on the PGA Tour, his first disappointments in those three major championships he didn’t win, his first extended period without a victory, has all that made his desire that much greater.

The answer seems to be simple. Yes.

A year ago at this time Woods said he truly expected to win every time he played. At times that sounded arrogant. This year he is playing things closer to the vest.

“I don’t know,” he said when asked how many times he could win this year. “I honestly don’t know.”

Does he have goals set for this year?

“Yes.”

Would he like to share them?

“No.”

Early on, at least, it seems that one of those goals is to be better.

And, early on at least, he seems to be doing just fine on that matter.