Grand Slam Talk Begins for Woods

Tiger Woods had no sooner won the PGA Championship on Sunday, his third consecutive major championship, than reporters asked him the inevitable question.

If he wins the Masters next April to make it four majors in a row, does that count as a Grand Slam?

“I’d like to think it does,” Woods said Sunday at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Ky., where he beat fellow Orange County native Bob May in a three-hole playoff. “But that’s not up to me to say.”

A Grand Slam is generally defined as a calendar-year sweep of the four major titles.

Tennis great Martina Navratilova was in a position similar to Woods in the 1980s, when she won six consecutive major championships--three to end the ’83 season and three to start the ’84 season.

When Navratilova won the French Open at Paris in 1984, giving her victories in four consecutive majors spanning two years, the International Tennis Federation presented her with a $1-million bonus for winning a Grand Slam.

Two years earlier, the ITF had changed the official interpretation of a Grand Slam to include any player who won the four majors (also including the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open) consecutively.

Still, tennis purists identify only Don Budge in 1938, Maureen Connolly in 1953, Rod Laver in 1962 and 1969, Margaret Court in 1970 and Steffi Graf in 1988 as Grand Slam winners.

The distinction rankled Navratilova, who vowed to put an end to the controversy by winning the Australian Open in December 1984. But she fell short, losing to Helena Sukova in the semifinals.

As for Woods, who won the U.S. Open in June and the British Open in July, he is only the second golfer to win three majors in a year, the other being Ben Hogan in 1953. No player has won all four in the same calendar year.

Whether or not a victory at Augusta National would give him a Grand Slam--and golf purists will surely say it would not--Woods is certain to continue attracting large numbers of television viewers.

CBS’s ratings for his final-round duel with May on Sunday were 30% higher than last year, when Woods won by one shot over Sergio Garcia of Spain, according to the overnight numbers supplied Monday by the network. About 10 million homes were tuned to the telecast as CBS drew an overnight rating of 10.0 with a 23 share, nearly equaling its ratings for the Masters, by far the sport’s biggest television drawing card. (The L.A. overnights were slightly lower, 9.3 with a 22 share.)

“People who never, ever watch golf--wives and young kids and daughters who never watch golf--are tuning in to watch Woods,” CBS Sports President Sean McManus told the Associated Press on Monday. “I don’t see it leveling off for a long time.”

NBC’s telecast in June of Woods’ record-breaking 15-stroke victory in the U.S. Open drew the highest Sunday rating for the tournament since 1981. His eight-stroke victory at the British Open a month later helped ABC pull in that tournament’s biggest ratings for a Sunday.

The Sunday overnights for each of those were bettered by the PGA Championship, which were 33% higher than those for the British Open and 14% higher than those for the U.S. Open.

“One of the best things about this summer was that all three networks that have a major investment in major golf had their moments,” McManus said.

It’s to the point, it seems, where some believe Woods capable of just about anything.

On Monday, Reuters reported, the odds of Woods winning all four majors in 2001 were priced in Britain at 16-1. He is listed at 11-10 to win the Masters.

One British bookmaker reportedly has taken a $45 bet that Woods will become president of the United States and has now cut those odds to 200-1 after a flurry of similar wagers.

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Times wire services contributed to this story.

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Yearbook

Tiger Woods’ year-by-year victories:

* 1996 (3)--Las Vegas Invitational, Walt Disney World/Oldsmobile Classic

* 1997 (4)--Mercedes Championships, Masters tournament, GTE Byron Nelson Classic, Motorola Western Open

* 1998 (1)--BellSouth Classic

* 1999 (7)--Buick Invitational, Memorial tournament, Motorola Western Open, 81st PGA Championship, World Golf Championships-NEC Invitational, National Car Rental Golf Classic at Walt Disney World Resort, the Tour Championship, World Golf Championships-American Express Championship

* 2000 (7)--Mercedes Championships, AT&T; Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, Bay Hill Invitational, Memorial Tournament, 100th U.S. Open Championship, 129th British Open Championship, 82nd PGA Championship