Woods Wants to Show He’s Still Mr. Big

He won the Masters by 12 shots in 1997. He won the British Open by eight shots in 2000, the same year he won the U.S. Open by 15 shots.

That’s what turns Tiger Woods’ crank, lights his fire, moves his needle, floats his boat. The numbers game.

Nothing is better than winning majors by a ton, said Woods, who prefers blowouts to close calls because they’re more fun.

“A lot more fun. Twelve, 15, double digits, that’s nice,” he said.

Of course, there haven’t been major victories of any kind, runaways or squeakers, in nearly three years for Woods. The streak of majors that he hasn’t won is in double digits, not the kind of reference point he prefers.

But Woods isn’t one to dwell on the negative, and, after all, he is still one of the favorites as the first round of the Masters gets underway today. Plus, he has a chance to knock Vijay Singh out of the No. 1 ranking again this week.

The last major Woods won is more than a few pages back in the book, the 2002 U.S. Open at Bethpage Black. He hasn’t won at Augusta National since he did it in consecutive years (2001 and 2002), which gave him three Masters titles.

Each of those triumphs shares a common number: He opened with a two-under-par 70 in the first round.

It would appear that getting off to a good start is vital to Woods’ game plan, especially remembering that he started with a 76 two years ago when he tied for 15th and shot a 75 last year when he tied for 22nd -- his worst Masters as a pro.

There’s also one more numerical key for Woods, and that’s to beat up the par fives. There are four of them at Augusta National and in his 10 previous Masters covering 38 rounds, he’s a combined 72 under on the par-five holes.

Woods says he expects to play well this week, which is his usual approach to Augusta National, but there are other factors in play that might not help him much.

Namely, Singh, Ernie Els, Phil Mickelson and Retief Goosen.

Numerically, they are the Big Five, with Tiger in there too, naturally.

There are as many experts around here as azaleas, so inside information should not be consumed without first examining the warning label, but many believe one of the Big Five is going to win this week.

Woods says he’s not into that kind of number thing, whether its the Big Four or Big Five or you add it up any way you want.

“I’m worried about getting my ball in the hole,” he said. “We have enough issues out there.”

Besides, he’s still wondering what happened to the last great talking point that involved him.

“Hey, I went through a stage when I was good for golf, when I was beating everybody, and then it was bad for golf that I was beating everybody. And now we’ve got the Big Four thing going and then if we get Goose in there ... I don’t know.”

Sure you do, Tiger, add it up. It’s the Big Five.

Not long ago, when Woods was dominating the game by winning seven of 11 majors, the 1999 PGA Championship through the 2002 U.S. Open, he most certainly was good for golf. He made everyone (Singh) work harder to catch up, provided a target (for Els) and became a source of inspiration (for Mickelson).

What’s more, he raised the bar in endorsement income, influenced television ratings that allowed sponsors to raise tournament prize money and helped shape the face of golf as a mainstream sport.

All that started the minute he won the Masters for the first time, eight years ago.

A fourth green jacket wouldn’t have the same impact, but it would signal something new for Woods, like a new start to his career in the majors and at the same time an end to his unwanted streak.

The way he has prepared for this week, there is no doubt that Woods would be very disappointed if he doesn’t come through, regardless of the Big Four ... or Five.

It might be more fun for Woods if he wins in a rout, but he’d settle for something close. Another Masters title? For Woods, that’s the real Big Four.