Woods Goes ‘Home’ With Eye on History

History is not lost on Tiger Woods, who is out to make some of his own at the home of golf.

Coming off the most dominant performance ever in a major championship, Woods can become only the fifth player to complete the Grand Slam by winning the British Open.

What better place than St. Andrews?

“That’s something I would love to have happen,” Woods said. “And there’s no better site for it to occur than the home of golf. It’s a very special place. Every person who has ever played the game of golf has wanted to win an Open at St. Andrews . . . because that’s where the game evolved.”

The first documentation of golf at St. Andrews was in 1552, when it was a game of hacking through bushes and heather on a piece of links land that King David had given the “auld grey toon” in 1123.

The Society of St. Andrews Golfers, which later became the Royal & Ancient Golf Club, was founded in 1754. The Old Course is where 18 holes became the worldwide standard for golf.

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Woods first played there in 1995 as a 19-year-old, only one U.S. Amateur championship on his resume. He returned in 1998 for the Dunhill Cup, where in typical windy weather he led the United States into the semifinals with rounds of 66-70-66, the best score each day.

“I can stand there and see the shots. They are framed by nature,” Woods said. “I know what I have to hit and how to do it.”

Right now, no one is doing it better.

The U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, which he won by a record 15 strokes, was his 20th PGA Tour victory, making the 24-year-old player the youngest ever to win so often so quickly. He has won half of those in the last 11 months, a stretch that has separated Woods from the rest of golf.

His only real rivals now are the records established by Jack Nicklaus.

The British Open is the one major that eluded Nicklaus--briefly. In his fifth year as a pro, Nicklaus finally won the ’66 Open at Muirfield to join Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan and Gary Player as the only men to win all four majors.

No one in the 34 years since then has completed the Grand Slam. Only Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino, Tom Watson and Raymond Floyd even had a chance.

No one has ever been on the cusp of history at such a young age. Nicklaus was 26 when he won the British Open, and this is only Woods’ fourth year of playing the majors as a pro.

Nicklaus’ benchmark of 18 professional majors looks more attainable every year.

“This issue is not whether he’s playing great golf now,” Nicklaus said. “It’s how long he’s going to be able to do that. How long will he keep the desire? How long will he be able to keep his health? Only time will tell.

“I would be delighted to have Tiger break my records,” he said. “If he has the desire and inclination to stick with it the next 15 years and work at it, I’m going to be the first one there to congratulate him. I hope I’m there to congratulate him.”

But the coronation will have to wait until four rounds are played on one of the most fickle pieces of property in golf, a course that has bunkers visible only by looking back from the green, and pot bunkers so deep that at times the only safe shot is backward.

It has humps and bumps, ragwort and gorse, and wind so strong that Nick Faldo once quipped, “Even the sea gulls walk.”

Woods recalls using a 2-iron and a 60-degree wedge to reach the first hole, protected only by a strip of a stream known as the Swilken Burn. The next day, he hit a driver and a 4-iron.

“I played a practice round where I played 18 straight holes into the wind, just because the tide changed,” Woods said. “That’s the way that golf course can play. I love links golf. You’re going to get some good bounces, some bad bounces.”

Still, Woods acknowledges that St. Andrews favors the big hitters, who can blow their drives over trouble. Four of the par 4s can be reached from the tee, depending on the wind. The defending Open champion at St. Andrews is none other than John Daly.

But Woods probably will not have his way with the field at the 129th British Open as he did at Pebble Beach.

Darren Clarke grew up on the links courses of Northern Ireland and whipped Woods in the Match Play Championship earlier this year.

Faldo is playing his 25th consecutive British Open, the longest active streak. He finished seventh in the U.S. Open, his best result in a major since 1996, and holds the record at St. Andrews, an 18-under 270 in 1990.

Paul Lawrie, who became the first Scot in 68 years to win an Open on home soil, would like to make it two in a row. But St. Andrews is nothing like Carnoustie.

Ernie Els is another links course specialist who has played the Old Course the past eight years in the Dunhill Cup.

“I’ll go to St. Andrews with more confidence this time,” said Els, who tied for 11th in the ’95 Open when he was still trying to figure out all the nuances of the Old Course.

The Big Easy would like to avoid a Greg Norman-like distinction--no one has ever finished runner-up in three straight majors, and Els already has been second at the Masters and U.S. Open, albeit nowhere near Woods at Pebble Beach.

Such a victory only built up the legend that has become Woods. His opening act was an overwhelming performance at Augusta National, where he won the Masters at 21 with a record score (270) and by a record margin (12 strokes).

The U.S. Open took him to another level. His victory was the largest in any major, topping the 13-stroke win by Old Tom Morris in the 1862 British Open.

“If you put Old Tom Morris with Tiger Woods, he’d probably beat him by 80 shots,” Els said.