Tiger Is Stalking a Major Trifecta

Tiger Woods makes it seem as if many more than four years have passed since the PGA Championship was last played at Valhalla Golf Club.

The rivalry back then was Nick Faldo and Greg Norman. The rising stars were Ernie Els and Phil Mickelson. The records set by Jack Nicklaus figured to be safe forever. Only four men had won a career Grand Slam.

Woods was still at Stanford, the NCAA champion who was getting ready for his first run at history--an unprecedented third straight U.S. Amateur.

Three days later, Woods turned pro. Golf hasn’t been the same since.

“My life since I turned pro,” Woods said, pausing to smile as he considered what has transpired. “I feel like my life has been equal to dog years.”

It must feel like dog days for everyone else.

Woods has won four of the last 15 majors and had a good chance in four others. He is No. 1 in the world rankings by the largest margin since they began in 1986. He has won more PGA Tour events (21) than any active player.

“Tiger has been on a roll that not many people have seen,” Davis Love III said.

That’s particularly true in the majors.

With an eight-stroke victory in the British Open, the largest margin in the event since World War I, the 24-year-old Woods became the youngest player to win the Grand Slam and his 19 under was the lowest score in a major championship.

A month earlier, he won the U.S. Open by a record 15 strokes, tied the lowest score ever in the tournament and became the first player in its 106-year history to finish under par in double digits (12).

Next up is the 82nd PGA Championship, and a chance to make more history by joining Ben Hogan as the only players to win three majors in one year.

“I’m quite aware of all the great champions of the game -- not just Jack,” Woods said. “I’ve been pretty aware of what they have accomplished and what they meant to the game and what they contributed.”

Hogan won his three majors in 1953; he didn’t play the PGA. Only nine times since then has a player gone to the PGA with a chance to win three in one year. The closest anyone came was Tom Watson, who tied for sixth in 1977.

Along with matching Hogan, Woods will try to become the first player since Denny Shute in 1937 to win back-to-back PGAs.

And it’s worth noting that the record score in relation to par at the PGA -- the only such mark that doesn’t belong to Woods -- is 17 under, set by Steve Elkington and Colin Montgomerie.

It all unfolds Thursday in a major that traditionally has the strongest field in golf.

Valhalla, which opened in 1986, features waterways called Floyd’s Fork and Brush Run, and has a par-5 18th with a horseshoe green where the 1996 PGA was decided. Mark Brooks made birdie to get into a playoff, and beat Kenny Perry on the same hole a short time later.

Woods played the course for the first time Tuesday before going to the Buick Open.

“What stood out more than anything is you really do have to drive the ball well,” Woods said. “Basically, at every major you’ve got to do that now.”

The last major of 2000 will also give Mickelson, David Duval, and Colin Montgomerie another chance to win one of golf’s ultimate prizes and will be Nicklaus’ final appearance in a PGA.

Els will try to avoid a record of his own -- no one has ever finished second in all four majors.

The South African known as the “Big Easy” has been runner-up to Woods four times this year, but has won two of his last three tournaments -- Loch Lomond in Scotland and the International in Colorado.

“For once, I didn’t mess it up, or I didn’t finish second, or there wasn’t a better golfer in the field,” he said. “I’m glad I’m over that final hurdle.”

But he hasn’t cleared the bar raised by Woods.

Mickelson already has won three times on tour this year, and his first real chance to win a major came in 1996 at Valhalla, where he had the 36-hole lead before rounds of 74-72 on the weekend left him in a tie for eighth.