Grand Occasion

So which one took a bigger pounding, the Old Course or the history books?

Tiger Woods, a legend already, became the youngest player to win all four of golf’s major championships Sunday when he laid waste to the most venerable layout the sport has to offer and won the British Open by eight shots.

Woods, who won the U.S. Open by 15 shots last month at Pebble Beach, didn’t just slam the door on his fourth major title with a three-under 69, he also shattered the 129-year British Open scoring record with a 72-hole total of 19-under par 269.

No one has gone further under par in a major in the history of golf.

At 24 years, 6 months and 23 days, Woods is two years younger than Jack Nicklaus was when he won the 1966 British Open to complete his sweep of the four majors. Only three others won all four in their careers. Gary Player was 29 when he won his fourth, Gene Sarazen was 33 and Ben Hogan was 40.

“It really is hard to put into words the emotions I feel inside,” Woods said.

“Those players are true champions right there. They have been the elite players to ever play the game. To be in the same breath with those guys makes it very special.”

Woods guided a four-foot par putt into the hole at No. 18 to conclude a 72-hole journey of brilliance that featured rounds of 67-66-67-69. It was the first time in his professional career that he played all four rounds of a major in the 60s.

Breaking Nick Faldo’s 10-year-old record of 18-under paled in comparison, Woods said.

“I didn’t give a darn about the record,” he said. “I wanted four straight rounds in the 60s.”

By the time Woods made the turn, the only real question was who would finish second. As it turned out, there were two who did. Ernie Els of South Africa and Thomas Bjorn of Denmark were second at 11-under 277. Els was also second at the Masters and tied for second at the U.S. Open.

David Duval, who was paired with Woods and was his closest pursuer through 15 holes, disappeared into the pack at the Road Hole. He made a bogey at No. 15 and a quadruple-bogey eight at No. 17 when he needed three shots to get out of the Road Hole bunker.

Instead of joining Els and Bjorn in a tie for second, Duval wound up 11th. He signed for a 75, 43 on the back after a 32 on the front.

Duval was extremely disappointed afterward.

“As good as everything turned out on the front, that was as bad as it turned out on the back,” he said.

Woods has now won the Masters by 12 shots, the U.S. Open by 15 shots and the British Open by eight shots.

“It was a spectacular performance, to say the least,” Duval said. “He simply did not make mistakes and capitalized on the holes you expect him to capitalize.”

Tom Watson, who won five British Open champions, also saluted Woods.

“He has raised the bar to a level that only he can jump,” Watson said. “Someone is going to have to use some flubber in the bottom of their shoes to be able to jump over that bar.

“He is something supernatural and the young man is playing golf supernaturally.”

In 1982, Watson was the last player to win the U.S. Open and the British Open in the same year. Only four others have done it: Bobby Jones (1926, 1930), Sarazen (1932), Hogan (1953) and Lee Trevino (1971).

Nick Faldo, a two-time British Open champion, said Woods seems to be playing by himself.

“The guy is simply in a different league,” Faldo said.

“It’s almost as though guys will now pick events to play in and play the Tigerless Tour to have a chance to win.”

Mark Calcavecchia, the 1989 British Open champion, said Woods might be the most dominant player of all.

“Jack Nicklaus was the greatest of all time, and he has the greatest record of all time, but when it is all said and done, [Woods] might have the greatest record of all time. If Jack was in his prime today, I don’t think he could catch up with Tiger.”

Woods was nearly perfect in all four rounds. He made only three bogeys in 72 holes--his only bogeys in his last 90 holes in major-championship competition.

It was his sixth victory this year and his 21st on the PGA Tour in less than five full seasons. He won $759,150 to give him $5,735,581 in 2000 and $17,050,710 since he turned pro in September 1996.

Starting with his victory at last year’s Memorial, Woods has won 13 of his last 23 PGA Tour events.

Els said he thought he was playing for second, from the first tee.

“In one way, it is incredible to watch a guy play so much better than the rest of the world,” he said. “And in another way, it is tough to sit down and talk about him every time. I might have to get used to it. I guess that’s the way it goes.”

As was his habit this week, Woods began his round slowly.

It took just seven holes for Duval to saw Woods’ six-shot lead in half. Duval rolled in a 12-foot putt on the seventh hole to move to 14-under and he would have been one shot closer than that if he had avoided a three-putt par at the par-five fifth.

Woods only managed a par at the fifth himself when he putted behind a mound short of the green, but advanced the ball just to the top of the slope.

Trailing Woods by eight shots to begin the day, Els made an early charge with four birdies on the first five holes, but he was still six shots back after he missed a five-footer for par at the par-three 11th.

David Toms dropped five shots behind when he missed a three-footer to bogey the 11th.

Through nine holes, Woods was still three shots ahead of Duval. But Woods made it a four-shot lead at the par-four 10th when he drove the front part of the green of the 379-yard hole. When Woods straight-armed a 12-footer into the hole for his second birdie of the day, he reached 18-under.

The sun had slipped behind a gray blanket of clouds when the last twosome reached the 12th hole and Duval pulled on a black sweater. His second shot probably chilled him even more. He hit a poor chip, the ball rolling halfway up the swale and then spiraling back down before stopping about 30 feet from the hole. He three-putted for bogey, missing a 10-footer for par.

Meanwhile, Woods drove the green again, putted to three feet and slam-dunked the birdie putt to regain his six-shot advantage.

How safe is a six-shot lead in Woods’ hands with six holes to go?

Well, if it wasn’t a sure thing before, it was as good as over when Duval drove into a bunker at the 13th and dropped seven shots back with his second bogey in a row.

All that was left was for Woods to close it out, which he did with relative ease.

He made a bogey at the 17th when he left his second shot short, but he saved par at the 18th with a two-putt from the back of the green.

By then, his name was already engraved on the Claret Jug. When Woods held it, he gave it a kiss. A little later, he talked about how he happened to be in the position of accepting another championship trophy and giving it a kiss.

“Hard work and good karma,” he said.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

TIGER BY THE NUMBERS

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Lowest score in relation to par in history of the four major championships. The records by tournament:

Masters Tiger Woods Augusta National, 1997 -18 U.S. Open Woods Pebble Beach, 2000 -12 British Open Woods St. Andrews, 2000 -19 PGA Championship 2 players Steve Elkington, Riviera, ’95 -17 Colin Montgomerie, Riviera, ’95 -17 3

Majors of which Woods is reigning champion. The titleholders:

Masters: Vijay Singh U.S. Open: Tiger Woods British Open Tiger Woods PGA Championship Tiger Woods 5

Players in history that have won all four majors:

Player, Age Year Completed Gene Sarazen, 33 1933 Ben Hogan, 40 1953 Gary Player, 29 1965 Jack Nicklaus, 26 1966 Tiger Woods, 24 2000 6

Tournaments won this year by Woods:

Tournament, Date Score Mercedes, Jan. 9 276 (-16) Pebble Beach, Feb. 6 273 (-15) Bay Hill, March 19 270 (-18) Memorial, May 28 269 (-19) U.S. Open, June 18 272 (-12) British Open, July 23 269 (-19) (BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

THE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

ON TOP

269 (-19) $759,150 Tiger Woods: 67-66-67-69 277 (-11) $371,984 Thomas Bjorn: 69-69-68-71 Ernie Els: 66-72-70-69 278 (-10) $197,379 Tom Lehman: 68-70-70-70 David Toms: 69-67-71-71 279 (-9) $151,830 Fred Couples: 70-68-72-69 280 (-8) $100,587 Paul Azinger: 69-72-72-67 Pierre Fulke: 69-72-70-69 Loren Roberts: 69-68-70-73 Darren Clarke: 70-69-68-73 (BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Tiger Tracks

WOODS IN 2000

*--*

Tournament Scores Total Place Marg. Money Mercedes 71-66-71-68 276 Won +2 $522,000 Pebble Beach 68-73-68-64 273 Won +2 $720,000 Buick Invit. 71-68-67-68 274 T2 -4 $264,000 Nissan Open 68-70-69-72 279 T18 -7 $37,731 Match Play 5-1 record 2 4&3 $500,000 Bay Hill 69-64-67-70 270 Won +4 $540,000 Players Champ. 71-71-66-71 279 2 -1 $648,000 Masters 75-72-68-69 284 T5 -6 $184,000 Byron Nelson 73-67-67-63 270 T4 -1 $176,000 Memorial 71-63-65-70 269 Won +5 $558,000 U.S. Open 65-69-71-67 272 Won +15 $800,000 Western Open 70-69-70-72 281 T23 -7 $26,700 British Open 67-66-67-69 269 Won +8 $759,150

*--*

WOODS’ PROFESSIONAL CAREER

2000

Tournaments: 13

Wins: 6

2nd: 3

Top 10: 11

Top 25: 13

Money: $5,735,617

*

1999

Tournaments: 21

Wins: 8

2nd: 1

Top 10: 16

Top 25: 18

Money: $6,616,585

*

1998

Tournaments: 20

Wins: 1

2nd: 2

Top 10: 3

Top 25: 17

Money: $1,841,117

*

1997

Tournaments: 21

Wins: 4

2nd: 1

Top 10: 9

Top 25: 14

Money: $2,066,833

*

1996

Tournaments: 11

Wins: 2

2nd: 0

Top 10: 5

Top 25: 8

Money: $790,594

*

TOTAL

Tournaments: 96

Wins: 21

2nd: 7

Top 10: 44

Top 25: 70

Money: $17,050,746

WOODS’ YEAR-BY-YEAR VICTORIES

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

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

* 1998--BellSouth Classic

* 1999--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--Mercedes Championships, AT&T; Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, Bay Hill Invitational, Memorial Tournament, 100th U.S. Open Championship, 129th British Open Championship

PLAYERS WITH CAREER GRAND SLAMS

Players with all four Major championship titles:

* GENE SARAZEN: (1935 Masters; 1922, 1932 U.S. Opens; 1932 British; 1922,1923, 1933 PGAs)

* BEN HOGAN: (1951, 1953 Masters; 1948, 1950, 1951, 1953 U.S. Opens; 1953 British; 1946,1948 PGAs)

* GARY PLAYER: (1961, 1974, 1978 Masters; 1965 U.S. Open; 1959, 1968, 1974 British; 1962, 1972 PGAs)

* JACK NICKLAUS: (1963, 1965, 1966, 1972, 1975, 1986 Masters; 1962, 1967, 1972, 1980 U.S. Opens; 1966, 1970, 1978 British; 1963, 1971, 1973, 1975, 1980 PGAs)

* TIGER WOODS: (1997 Masters, 2000 U.S. Open, 2000 British, 1999 PGA)

WOODS’ RECORD IN MAJORS

* 1995: Masters, 41st (as an amateur); U.S. Open, withdrew (amateur); British Open, 68th (amateur); PGA (amateur, did not play).

* 1996: Masters, missed cut (amateur); U.S. Open, 82nd (amateur); British Open, 22nd (amateur); PGA (did not play).

* 1997: Masters, 1st; U.S. Open, 19th; British Open, 24th; PGA, 29th.

* 1998: Masters, 8th; U.S. Open, 18th; British Open, 3rd; PGA, 10th.

* 1999: Masters, 18th; U.S. Open, 3rd; British Open, 7th; PGA, 1st.

* 2000: Masters, 5th; U.S. Open, 1st, British Open, 1st; PGA (begins Aug. 17).

AND THERE’S MORE . . .

* Becomes the youngest player in history (24 years, 6 months, 23 days) to win all four major championships, breaking the mark held by Nicklaus (26 years, 6 months, at 1966 British Open).

* Becomes the youngest player in history to win a fourth major championship, breaking the mark held by Nicklaus (25 years, 2 months, at 1965 Masters).

* Becomes the first player since Ben Hogan in 1953 to hold three major tournament titles at the same time.

* Becomes the first player since Tom Watson in 1982 to win the U.S. and British Opens in the same year.

* Breaks the British Open record for lowest score in relation to par (18-under), set by Nick Faldo at St. Andrews in 1990.

* Joins Greg Norman (1993) and Nick Price (1994) as the only champions to shoot all four rounds in the 60s.

* Earns his 21th career PGA Tour victory in his fifth season as a professional and collects his fourth different major championship as a member of the PGA Tour.

* Becomes the sixth golfer to win the U.S. Open Championship and the British Open Championship in the same year. The others are Bobby Jones (1926, 1930), Gene Sarazen (1932), Ben Hogan (1953), Lee Trevino (1971), Tom Watson (1982).

* Becomes the first golfer in 28 years to own three major championship trophies at the same time. Jack Nicklaus was the last to do it when he held the 1971 PGA Championship trophy, the 1972 Masters trophy and the 1972 U.S. Open trophy.

*

HERE WE GO AGAIN

Tiger Woods has won three of the last four majors. Think he is the favorite to repeat in the PGA Championship? D7