Tiger Knows When to Hide Behind the Woods

Many athletes, even the greatest, never know when to clam up. The same ego that drives them to the peak won’t allow them to let their foes have an uninterrupted moment in the spotlight.

If you want to know why Tiger Woods is universally liked, as well as respected, among his peers, Friday at the British Open was a perfect example. Tiger shot 68. He’s on the leader board--in an eight-way tie for ninth place. Because he’s only two shots behind the five co-leaders, his chances to win the third leg of the Grand Slam still intact, he could have hogged the day.

Instead, Woods had the locker room courtesy and the innate class to step aside and force attention on the men who deserved it. Co-leader Ernie Els, as well as popular veteran Nick Price and Scotland’s Colin Montgomerie (64), were more logical second-round stories.

So Woods refused a mass interview with every reporter on nine continents. If you wanted him, then chase him behind the 18th green. A couple of dozen did, but not hundreds. Then he almost whispered his answers. And kept them short and boring, too.

Fans don’t notice such things. But nothing, absolutely nothing, is spotted faster by athletes. Reggie Jackson was the quintessential media hog and widely disliked for it.

In golf, Greg Norman has been a scene-stealer his whole career and is resented for it. Maybe it’s part of Great White Shark marketing.

Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson, in their primes, knew when to make themselves scarce. Golfers tend to have good manners. But it’s been a long time since any player effaced himself as gracefully as Woods did Friday.

“I played beautifully the last two days. Hit the ball really well. And hit good putts. They just haven’t fallen. I have stayed patient and continued to plug along,” said Woods. “Any time you are near the lead in a major championship you have to be happy,” cliched Tiger.

Asked his thoughts on the Grand Slam, he just shook his head. Tiger might as well have held up a sign: “Go interview all those co-leaders.”

Nice try, Tiger.

But Shigeki Maruyama, Padraig Harrington and Duffy Waldorf have never won a major title. Bob Tway did once, but that was long ago. As for Els, he’s a gentleman, a classic swinger, The Big Easy. But he hasn’t won a major since his second U.S. Open at Congressional in ’97.

Which, not coincidentally, is just about the time Woods showed up. So far, Els hasn’t gone head-to-head well against Tiger. With emphasis on the “head.”

Asked about his course-record 29 on the front nine, Els said, “If you kept that going, you could shoot a 54. That’s a scary thought.” It’s pretty scary if Ernie thinks two times 29 is 54. Okay, give him the benefit of the doubt. With a mulligan, he’d nail it.

Still, Els knows that in showdowns with Tiger, mental mistakes kill him. Els berated himself Friday about a bogey on the 13th hole after it took two blasts to escape a trap. “That is the only place you don’t want to be on that hole. That was a mental error.”

Els even has his own personal confidence psychologist. Think Woods needs one? Shrinks go to Tiger for self-assurance therapy. “He grinds positive stuff into my head,” Els said of his mental coach. “He’ll have to do a pretty decent job the next couple of days.”

So, who’s going to make the weekend tough for Tiger? Any takers? Or does the great man just slap it around in 70-70--hitting irons to fairways, playing to the middle of greens, avoiding mistakes--and then on Sunday night take home a Claret Jug?

Maruyama accidentally gave his real opinion Thursday: “Tiger lives in a different world from us.”

At least the ebullient Shigeki has provided us his imitations of the sounds Woods makes after he misses yet another putt by an inch. On Thursday, that utterance was a huge “sigh.” By the second round, according to Maruyama, Woods grunted like a man being stabbed in the stomach.

Is Woods in danger of getting flummoxed by the double annoyance of hitting his driver on only three holes and constantly misreading greens by a hair?

“It’s frustrating when you hit good putts and they’re just not going in,” said Woods. “I tried to tell myself again and again and again, all day, to just stay committed.... Pick the line and go ahead and hit it. The stroke is good. They’re just not dropping.”

Part of that is bad luck. But part is an imperfect sense of the break on Muirfield’s greens. And wind, maybe big wind, which always makes putting even harder, is scheduled for Saturday.

In the hunt for long shots with the grit to face down Woods, many vets pick the same name--an old-timer tied with Tiger.

“Watch Nick Price,” said Els. “This course really suits him.”

Whatever happens, Price has had a forum here for his theories on how major championships should be set up.

Surprise, surprise, Price really likes courses like Muirfield that maximize the chances of a medium-distance shot-maker such as himself, while bringing the big bombers, like Woods, back to the field just a notch.

“I’m glad every par 4 on this course doesn’t have to be 490 yards long. You can set up a course with bunkering and rough that is better than that,” said Price, who can match his super-accurate driver against Woods’ careful two-irons. “Certainly at the U.S. Open and the Masters I don’t have a prayer unless I get a bazooka for a driver.”

So, Nick, is golf being spoiled?

“Absolutely. Very sad,” he said. “This game has always been the ultimate David versus Goliath where you had someone like Gary Player against Jack Nicklaus. Or Ben Hogan, who wasn’t very long, against Sam Snead.

“Now the game is becoming more of a smash from the tee,” said Price. “If you gave West Indies cricket star Brian Lara a cricket bat that was twice the size of a regular cricket bat, half the weight, what would happen? One day they’d score 600 runs and not get anyone out.”

Over here, they talk cricket and expect you to understand. They grow the rough to your waist, then put a century’s worth of invisible bumps in every green.