It’s Official: Woods Is Now Without Peer

Tiger Woods’ stunning 15-stroke victory in the U.S. Open on Sunday at Pebble Beach has stimulated the nation’s media to put it in perspective. A sampling:

* Skip Bayless in the Chicago Tribune: “You’re away Mr. Hogan. You need two shots a side, Mr. Nicklaus. You need more than an army, Arnie. Gentlemen, your legendary golf games have officially been outmoded.”

* Greg Cote in the Miami Herald: “He cannot be real. He must be a robot in human-like skin, a product of Nike technology.”

* John McGrath in the Tacoma (Wash.) News Tribune: “ ‘My goal,’ Woods promised, ‘is to try and get better.’

“Just what we need, a better Tiger Woods. Sorry, but this is like trying to envision a more sober Al Gore, or a louder Rosie O’Donnell.”

* Bruce Jenkins in the San Francisco Chronicle: “Because of him, golf spans every continent, and the general public is riveted to the screen. Without him, it’s a bunch of guys in Wal-Mart hats.”

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Trivia time: Who holds the NBA finals record for free throws made in a game?

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Sour grapes? You would think that Red Auerbach, the former multi-championship coach of the Boston Celtics, would be gracious regarding Phil Jackson’s latest coaching accomplishment. Not so.

“Any place he’s gone, he has had the team given to him,” Auerbach told Mike Wise of the New York Times. “I had to go make my team and put it together. I had to draft the players myself. Jerry West gives him a team, and he goes ahead and wins. . . . He’s a good coach, but let’s not get carried away.

“People said they got no ballplayers outside their two stars. What is [Glen] Rice? Chopped liver? What about Robert Horry, Rick Fox? I know a lot of ballclubs who would want them. . . .

“He’s not doing it with mirrors so why doesn’t he come out and say, ‘I got a good ballclub.’ ”

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Come on and say it: Here’s Harvey Araton of the New York Times in an interview with Chicago Bull executive Jerry Krause:

“To me, Jerry West is responsible for what happened in Los Angeles.

“He’s the one who maneuvered to get that team under the cap so they could sign [Shaquille] O’Neal. He’s the one who made the Kobe Bryant deal happen. But he’s getting far less credit than he should. Instead, you hear, well, other things.”

You hear, Araton writes, about Jackson winning in his first season outside Chicago.

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Trivia answer: Bob Pettit of the St. Louis Hawks, 19, against Boston on April 9, 1958.

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And finally: Brian Schmitz in the Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel: “The city of Orlando and the Magic might have cringed, seeing O’Neal celebrate.

“No matter what led to his departure in the summer of ’96 to Hollywood, his absence will be felt for years and [will] haunt the organization, especially if he keeps collecting rings.”