Tiger Hopes It Won’t Become Second Nature

We know that when Tiger Woods was a kid, he taped a list of Jack Nicklaus’ accomplishments on the wall. Let the record show that after the PGA Championship ended at Hazeltine National Golf Club, Woods is now only 18 short of Nicklaus in majors.

That’s right, Tiger needs to finish second 18 more times and he’ll catch Nicklaus.

It’s not that easy to decide which was the bigger upset Sunday.

Was it Rich Beem winning or Tiger not winning?

On paper, you would have to say that Beem vs. Tiger looked like a mismatch. It might as well have been Beem vs. Laser beam.

Their recent experiences are sort of different. Six years ago, Beem was making $7 an hour selling car stereos. Woods was signing a $45-million deal and turning pro. This week, Beem was playing in his fourth major. Tiger has won eight majors.

Of course, if we had been paying attention to who has been winning these PGA Championships the last several years, it should have been clear that this thing had Rich Beem written all over it. Beem is the sixth player in the last eight years to win his first major at the PGA Championship, thus making this tournament the undisputed coming-out party among the four majors.

As for Tiger being a runner-up for the first time in a major, it’s nothing to be ashamed of. Nicklaus is the greatest major-championship winner of all time with 18 of them, and he was still second in 19 others.

In fact, most figured it was only a matter of time until Woods didn’t win a major when he was in contention.

And the odds that someone as relatively unknown as Beem would be the guy to beat him should also come as no great surprise.

Something similar could have happened in this tournament two years ago at Valhalla.

That’s when Woods needed to shoot a 31 on the back nine on the last day just to catch Bob May and force a playoff, where Woods prevailed by one shot over the three extra holes.

There is also the matter of contrasting personalities, with Beem the light-hearted Everyman who seems on the verge of doubling over in laughter after every shot, matched up against Tiger’s no-nonsense Mr. Methodical, who has the sense of humor of a guy in a hood operating a guillotine.

It’s hard to gauge how much personality comes into play on the course, so let’s put that category aside for the moment.

Still, how do you figure that Tiger’s hugely regarded powers of intimidation were such a non-factor? Are they overrated or was Beem too clueless to notice that he should have been shaking in his polyester pants?

Whatever kind of spin you want to put on it, Woods remains golf’s premier performer in major championships.

He did nothing to harm that reputation at Hazeltine. Woods started the day five shots back, birdied the last four holes, shot a 67 and lost by one shot when the winner three-putted the 18th for bogey.

Only one other player shot a 67 Sunday ... 52-year-old Tom Watson. It was his 30th PGA Championship, the only major title Watson hasn’t won. He did finish second once, in 1978, when he lost to John Mahaffey in a three-man playoff with Jerry Pate at Oakmont Country Club.

Now, Woods has his own second place in the PGA Championship, not that he’s very happy about it.

Woods waited in the scoring trailer for Beem to finish and watched on TV as Beem closed out the victory. Woods took a sip of water, walked out and started explaining what happened.

To hear Woods describe it afterward, his emotions were geographically challenged. They were going everywhere.

He was seething inside for the three-putt that cost him a bogey at the 13th hole, but at the same time he was happy with himself for pulling it together and making a run with four consecutive birdies coming in.

Clearly, Tiger was thoroughly semi-satisfied but not really. There is only one measure for greatness in golf and it’s no secret to anyone.

How many majors did you win? That’s why young Tiger made Nicklaus his target and it’s also why Woods is a cinch to win his fifth player of the year award.

The way Woods sees it, winning one major a year is a great achievement and he won the Masters and the U.S. Open this year, so adding a second place at the PGA Championship looks good in his book.

The problem is, Tiger has spoiled us so in the majors that many expect him to win them all. Not even Nicklaus, the standard by whom all major champions are judged, could manage that.

With 19 seconds, Nicklaus showed that you can still be the best ever, even if you don’t win them all. Just win your share.

And if you’re Tiger Woods and you’re used to a steady diet of winning, you remember that. It’s all right to have seconds, just push yourself away from that table and fill up on something else as soon as you can.