An Amazing Tale

By THOMAS BONK

Feb. 8, 2000 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

PEBBLE BEACH —

All right, so what exactly is it going to take now to stop Tiger Woods’ six-tournament winning streak?

Playing blindfolded? Jack Nicklaus coming back in his prime? Byron Nelson’s guardian angel leaving spike marks on the green?

The way things are going in this World According to Tiger, chances are there isn’t much that can stop him, outside of covering the holes with dinner plates.

Woods, for whom the spectacular has become routine, shot the lowest closing round in the history of the AT&T; Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, came from seven shots back with seven holes to play and won his sixth consecutive PGA Tour event Monday in a virtuoso performance that was nothing less than brilliant, even by Woods’ lofty standards.

It was a victory that will be lodged deep in the record books, equaling Ben Hogan’s mark of six consecutive wins in 1948. Of course, there’s another target. Woods is moving closer to Nelson’s record of 11 consecutive victories, set in 1945, or 30 years before Woods was born.

Woods pounded an eight-under 64 at Pebble Beach for a two-shot victory over Matt Gogel and Vijay Singh, warming up a cool, gray day on the Monterey Peninsula until it was close to sizzling, with the biggest comeback in his brief but meteoric career.

Starting the day five shots behind Gogel and Mark Brooks, Woods found himself trailing by seven through 11 holes. Was Woods worried? Actually, he had everybody else right where he wanted them, in his sights.

It was all part of Woods’ simple, but effective strategy.

“I just figured if I could somehow keep plodding along, keep plodding along . . .

“It’s not over until it’s over.”

Well, no, it isn’t. And this one wasn’t over until the greatest closer in golf slammed the door hard enough to send the tide out.

Woods was three under on the front nine and still had lost ground to Gogel, the Nike Tour graduate, who held a seven-shot lead over Woods.

The back nine holes at Pebble Beach on the last day are full of danger, but that is precisely where Woods turned what appeared to be certain defeat into a victory of dynamic proportions.

Consider how Woods played the last four holes: He holed out for an eagle at No. 15, a birdie at No. 16, par at No. 17, a birdie at No. 18.

Out on the golf course, Gogel had not been looking at the scoreboard. He thought the roars he heard were for Singh or Notah Begay, not for Woods.

“I was amazed, to be quite honest,” Gogel said. “I will not ever be amazed anymore.”

What Woods does tends to generate amazement but this time, the disbelief factor started innocently enough. His surge to the lead began before the last four holes. At No. 12, he air-mailed a five-iron to within eight feet and made the putt for birdie. He narrowly missed a chance for another birdie at No. 14, when his 12-foot putt slid past.

Then on No. 15, the entire tournament changed on one mighty swing by Woods.

Only 97 yards from the hole and standing in the middle of the fairway, Woods took out a sand wedge, swung and sent the ball on a high arc toward the green. The ball landed a few feet to the right of the flagstick, bounced and then rolled back left and disappeared into the hole.

“I was just trying to get it close and it just happened to go in,” he said.

What had been a four-shot deficit was now down to two and Woods announced, “I’m right back in it.”

When Gogel bogeyed No. 15, Woods was tied for the lead. And, one by one, Singh, Brooks and Begay took themselves out of the running.

Still, Woods knew he had to make good on the morning estimate he had shared with his coach, Butch Harmon, that it was going to take a 64 to win. That clearly was on his mind through 14 holes.

“I figured I needed to birdie the last four holes,” Woods said. “I didn’t do that, but I still played it four under.”

At the 16th hole, Woods hit a wedge from 115 yards and almost holed out again, this time sending the ball bouncing just past the flagstick. He trickled in a two-footer for his birdie.

Woods said he was surprised that shot didn’t go in, and he was also surprised his chip from the fringe at the par-three 17th didn’t go in. Tied with Gogel, Woods stood on the tee at the par-five, 543-yard 18th, the one with the narrow fairway with rough running down the right side and the bay running down the left.

Woods hit a driver down the left side and had 228 yards left to the hole. He hit a two-iron just short of the green, pitched to three feet and calmly sent the ball into the hole for his sixth and last birdie of the day and a one-shot lead over Gogel.

While Woods retreated to the media room and watched on television, Gogel left his birdie putt on No. 17 about two inches short of the hole. That left Gogel with one more chance to catch Woods. Standing over a 10-foot putt for a birdie on No. 18, Gogel missed it, then missed his short comeback putt and wound up with a bogey.

And Woods wound up with another trophy.

“I don’t know about destiny,” Gogel said. “He is just damned good.”

Five under par on the front, Gogel played the back nine at four over. He did not make a birdie after the seventh hole.

By the time Gogel finished, Woods was accepting congratulations and celebrating what is already one of the brightest careers in PGA Tour history, even though it is less than four years old.

Woods, who turned 24 six weeks ago, has won 17 PGA Tour events. His $720,000 paycheck here brings his 2000 total to $1.24 million in only two tournaments, and his career earnings to $12,557,128 since joining the tour in August 1996.

Woods has won only $31,519 less than career leader Davis Love, who is 35 and playing in his 15th year on the tour.

In his last nine official events, Woods has won eight, missing out at the Sprint International in August, where he tied for 37th. What’s more, he has won eight of his last nine tournaments worldwide.

If this is what you would call a roll, then we haven’t seen one better in golf in 55 years, when Nelson won his 11 consecutive events.

It is a record that hardly anyone thinks will be broken and it probably is safe, given the sheer enormousness of the mark.

But as Woods says, it’s not over until it’s over, and right now, you have to say the same thing about his streak. Beginning Thursday, Woods plays the Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines in La Jolla, where he is the defending champion.

Somebody asked him Monday if he feels like the defending champion every week because of his streak.

Answered Woods, “I might be at the end of the year.”

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THE STREAK

With date, tournament, winning margin and earnings:

Aug. 29, 1999: NEC Invitational

(1 stroke, $1 million)

Oct. 24, 1999: National Car Rental

(1 stroke, $450,000)

Oct. 31, 1999: Tour Championship

(4 strokes, $900,000)

Nov. 7, 1999: WGC-American Express