Don’t Call This an Off-Season

There is only one more round of golf left for Tiger Woods this year. And that would be today’s fourth and final round of his own tournament, the $4.1-million Williams World Challenge at Sherwood Country Club, where Tiger is going to throw his clubs in the back of his courtesy car and head off for winter vacation.

Here’s hoping he has enough time to unpack before heading back out again. The first round of the Mercedes Championship at Kapalua on Maui is Jan. 3

“Scary, isn’t it?” Woods said.

Have a wonderful off-season, Tiger. Looking on the bright side, Woods says he’s already prepared for next year to begin, which is the way you should feel after winding up the kind of year he had. He won five PGA Tour events, he won the Masters, his fourth consecutive major title, he led the money list and won the Vardon Trophy for scoring for the third year in a row.

It has been an unprecedented three-year roll for Woods, who can put his clubs away and reflect on what kind of impact he has had. Woods has won 22 tournaments and six majors in the last three years. He has won more than $21.5 million.

While there has been some speculation that Phil Mickelson or perhaps PGA champion David Toms might challenge Woods for top honors for 2001, Davis Love III sees it only one way.

“Who would not vote for him for player of the year?” Love said. “You forgot for a little bit how good [2001] was because it gets boring. For Tiger, I think this year was a great, great year. He is still the best this year.

“We will see what next year brings. Can a Phil Mickelson or a David Duval or a Davis Love have that year and [Woods] have the next rung down? We all still want what he’s got.”

What Tiger’s got right now is some time off, at least a little, and it begins this afternoon right after he signs his scorecard. Woods’ travel plans until he tees it up at Kapalua include a trip to his home outside Orlando, Christmas with his parents in Orange County, then off to Hawaii to start the whole thing over again in 2002.

“It’s been a great off-season,” Woods joked.

There is no real off-season when only 17 days separate the last round of 2001 with the first round of 2002, but Woods doesn’t feel he has been cheated.

“Because of the tragedy of Sept. 11, I took five weeks off then,” he said. “That was my off-season. I felt like my [new] year started at the Disney [Oct. 18-21] and will run through the Masters.”

Woods used the first few tournaments of 2001 as sort of a spring training. He didn’t win until the middle of March, at Bay Hill, and then won three in a row, including the Players and the Masters. He tied for third at the Byron Nelson and then won again at the Memorial. Woods won only one PGA Tour event after June, at the NEC Invitational, but he still made $5,687,777 in official prize money and passed $26 million in career earnings.

“He did not have a spectacular second half, but he is still the player of the year,” Love said.

As for Woods, he knows how to characterize how he played in 2001.

“Any year you can win a major championship is a great year,” he said, “and if I can do that the rest of my career, you can write ‘slump’ all you want.”

*

Vijay Singh shot a third-round 71 and increased his lead over Woods from one shot to four after Saturday’s third round at Sherwood. Woods double-bogeyed the par three 17th on his way to a two-over 74 and a 54-hole total of seven-under 209.

Bernhard Langer also shot a 74 and actually moved up to third place at 211 on a windy day that featured some high scores. Outside of Thomas Bjorn’s 64, Lee Westwood’s 70 and Singh’s 71 were the only rounds under par for the day.

“Nobody’s having fun out there, they’re just trying to win,” said Singh, who eagled the par-four 10th hole.