Woods Stays on Short List of Contenders

Tiger Woods stood in front of the microphone last week at the Lodge at Pebble Beach to say a few words about receiving the PGA Tour’s player of the year award for 2001. “It was an interesting year,” Woods began his remarks. “I worked my way out of two bona fide media slumps.”

That’s Tiger’s world for you, delivered by the subject himself, revealing in two sentences a complete analysis of how his golf game gets looked at by, well, just about everyone.

Last year, it was the golf media that brought up the notion of a Woods “slump,” since he hadn’t won a PGA Tour event since August 2000. True, he had won seven times worldwide before the NEC Invitational in August 2000, and three more times worldwide after it (the Johnnie Walker Classic, the PGA Grand Slam and the EMC World Cup), but they hadn’t seemed to count for much.

And now it’s time to cover some old ground for Woods, who remains the player to beat in any tournament he plays, in this case the $3.6-million Buick Invitational that begins today at Torrey Pines. For Woods, it’s only his third tour event of the year, following the Mercedes Championships the first week of January, where he tied for 10th, and Pebble Beach, where he closed with a 68 and tied for 12th. For most, that’s a decent start, but the perception persists that Woods is somehow not a factor unless he starts winning.

And, for the record, Woods indicates he may not be that far off. “The strongest part of my game is probably the short game,” he said Wednesday. “I’ve had a lot of practice at it, unfortunately. I haven’t really hit the ball particularly well, but I’m working on a few things this week to get my playing more consistent, and that’s going to take a little time. It’s coming around. When I do trust it, I hit good shots, and that’s a good thing.

“It’s just a matter of getting up there and trusting when you feel a little uneasy over certain shots. I tend to get back into some old faults again and try and get out of there.”

Woods says there’s nothing wrong with his swing that’s the fault of his new prototype titanium Nike driver that he used last week and he’s packing in his bag again this week for the Buick. Actually, Woods is among the top players in driving accuracy (73.9%) and he is averaging 309.2 yards a drive.

Where Woods has said his troubles seem to be reflected in the greens-in-regulation statistics, he’s 17th compared to fifth a year ago. He also ranks 154th in putting (1.852 putts per green), which isn’t close to his year-end average a year ago (1.775) that placed him 102nd in the putting statistics. What’s more, Woods’ scoring average is 70.38, compared to 69.25 at the stage of the season a year ago.

Of course, he has played only two tournaments, so it’s a little premature to start worrying about Woods’ performance. He certainly isn’t worried.

“I know I’m hitting the ball probably more solid this year than I did last year [at this time], but I’m not scoring quite as well because I’m not hitting my irons close enough. The last few weeks, I’ve putted well. I’ve rolled the ball well, I just haven’t gotten on greens that have been that smooth. This week, the greens are perfect out here, so it’s going to be fun to get out there and play.”

The greens that Woods referred are on the newly redone South Course, the object of a $3.3-million renovation by Rees Jones that has put Torrey Pines in line as a potential site for the 2008 U.S. Open.

Everyone who’s been asked, including Woods and defending champion Phil Mickelson, has heralded the course. All 18 greens are new, there are a dozen new bunkers and 500 yards have been added so it could be played at a monstrous 7,600 yards. At the 18th, which has been lengthened 75 yards, Woods says that depending on wind conditions, it’s still reachable with driver, two-iron. John Daly reached it in two in his practice round Wednesday and remains a huge fan of using the biggest club in his bag.

“Golf courses should be built for people to hit drivers,” he said.

Few hit drivers as far as Daly, but Woods can. And no one wins more tournaments than Woods, who had 29 when he turned 26 on Dec. 30. In the last three years, Woods has won 22 PGA Tour events and five majors. He held all four major titles at once when he won the Masters last April.

The problem is, what will he do for an encore? Next week, he is probably going to play the Nissan Open at Riviera, although he hasn’t officially said so, and the World Match Play Championship is two weeks later at La Costa. Then it’s off to Florida for Bay Hill, the Players Championship and then the Masters.

That’s the schedule, demanding as it may be. And, fair or not, some may point out he’s still five victories behind last year’s total. At this point, Woods will worry about next week when it’s time. He has a different mentality.

“Just get better every week and hopefully I can continue to do that. I felt I was progressing day after day. Last week, I was hitting the ball more crisp. I just need to keep working on the things I’m working on. It’s coming together.”

He said it feels nice. The way Woods sees it, it’s a weekly proposition, up for renewal every Sunday. At this point, that’s good enough for him and it should be the same for everybody else.