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Tiger wins another major tuneup

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Robert Lusetich

After more than 20 years of covering everything from election campaigns to Olympic Games, Robert Lusetich turned his focus to writing about his first love — golf. He is author of Unplayable: An Inside Account of Tiger's Most Tumultuous Season. MORE>>
Updated Jul 7, 2009 3:08 PM ET
     
 

BETHESDA, Md.

Roger Federer's probably too nice to send Tiger Woods the text message the world's No.1 golfer would have no problem sending if the roles were reversed. 15-14. After Federer's epic 15th Grand Slam title at Wimbledon, he's now taken the lead in the personal little tit-for-tat majors game between the planet's two most dominant sports figures. Before his surgical and satisfying one-stroke victory in his own tournament at Congressional Country Club on Sunday, the ultra-competitive Woods sent his friend a congratulatory text message. "Great job," it read, "Now it's my turn." Woods quickly clarified that he didn't mean it was his turn to win a 15th major, but to win again on the same day, as they did when Federer won the French Open and, hours later, Woods responded by winning Jack Nicklaus' Memorial Tournament. "His are a hell of a lot bigger than mine, though," Woods said Sunday, "He won two Slams and I won two Tour events." "Hopefully, I can get the majors now." For the third time this season, Woods has won his final start heading into a major. At Scotland's Turnberry next week, he'll hope that the third time will be a charm because his one-stroke successes at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and at Jack's place didn't breed success at either Augusta or Bethpage Black. He finished tied for sixth at both the Masters and U.S. Open.
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"Hopefully I can play (at Turnberry) like I did this week and continue to build next week," Woods said. "(Coach) Hank (Haney) is coming down, hopefully we'll do some good work and continue to build on what we're doing right now." What he's doing right now is, it has to be said, not too shabby. Woods was faced with one of the potential stars of golf's future Sunday. Anthony Kim abandoned his dream of becoming a pint-sized NBA point guard and got serious about golf when Woods "made it cool." The 24-year-old was the defending champion of the AT&T National and their final-round, final-pairing, head-to-head battle was seen by the savants as a line in the sand; potentially, a changing of the guard in the sport. In the end, though, the grasshopper has still a lot to learn from the master. Kim, a laid-back L.A. kinda guy, touched the buttocks of Woods' caddie, Steve Williams, with a wedge as the final pairing made its way to the first tee. Williams smiled and said hello. Woods, however, isn't a friendly Tiger on Sundays. As others have done before him, Kim learned this lesson quickly. There was no small talk, no joking. Woods, as always, was all business. "I was just kind of getting into my own little world," Woods said later, "I tend to do that when the situation gets that way ... you tend to get wrapped up in that and you forget what's going on around you."
Until the tournament was over, Woods having safely landed on the island green of the 72nd hole in two shots with Kim out of the race, the only exchanges between them — aside from the occasional sotto voce "good shot" — occurred when Kim asked Woods if he was away on the third green. "Yep," said Woods. Woods later joked about his legendary capacity to intimidate opponents. "Well, I'm 6-5, 250 pounds, you know," he said with a laugh. He can, of course, afford to laugh because, after all, he emerged victorious. But the question was a valid one. "The great thing about golf is you just play your own game," Woods explained, "You can't physically intimidate anybody. You can't physically influence somebody like what happened to (Federer) today. In that sport you can. In our sport, you can't." There's a long list of final-round playing partners who might beg to differ. Woods began the final round tied at 10 under par with Kim, but quickly was one back when the precocious Kim bombed a 350-yard drive on the first hole, then flipped a little pitch onto the green and spun it back to about 4 inches. A kick-in birdie doubling as a warning shot. Indeed, Kim was the more impressive player throughout the opening four holes, until he hit a wild drive off the fifth tee, which sailed far left. Kim was lucky to have a relatively clean shot to the green but flubbed a low wedge and, from the front of the green, then three-putted while Woods made par. "What did I learn today?" Kim asked. "I learned that when you have a birdie putt, you better make it." Woods split the sixth fairway, then headed off to the porta-potty about 30 yards behind the tee box. He gave a quick glance back when Kim's caddie shouted, "Fore, left!" a few seconds later. The tide had turned and Woods knew it. Emboldened, he drained a 14-footer for birdie on one of the more exacting holes on this classic layout. Kim scrambled his way to par but was now behind and Woods doesn't have much of a history of choking with the lead. Now in full flight, Woods unleashed a gorgeous little draw into the 174-yard par 3 seventh, the ball spinning back to about 3 feet. Kim answered brilliantly, but then missed the putt from 4 feet. Woods knows the one about looking gift horses in the mouth. His lead was now two. Woods should have made another birdie on the eighth but misread a 5-footer beneath the hole. Kim three-putted after driving the ball into the rough about 40 yards short of the green. He was unraveling. Kim had reason to cheer on the par-5 ninth, making an improbable birdie and watching Woods' birdie effort come achingly close. The lead was back to three, though, on the very next hole when a long birdie putt fell for Woods on the tough par-3 10th. He unleashed his first fist pump of the day and it probably had nothing to do with Kim's celebration on the ninth green. The long par-4 11th had been Woods' undoing all week. Again, a poor drive found the right hazard. An irate Woods muttered unprintable words under his breath as he surveyed the damage. After a penalty drop into the rough, he had 210 yards left to the hole. He understood that a bogey was inevitable, as indeed it was. "I found a way to make 5 or worse four different ways. Beautiful, isn't it?" a rueful Woods would later say about a hole he played in 5 over par for the tournament. By now, however, his focus had turned away from Kim and onto Hunter Mahan. Mahan had tied Kim's course record, shot Thursday, with a 62 to take the clubhouse lead at 12 under. "I don't know what golf course Hunter was playing today but I didn't see a 62 out there," Woods later said. "He went out there and put so much pressure on both AK and I. He was done when we were on 12, so six holes to go and at the time I was tied for the lead. It was just like, you can go either way. You can win the tournament or you can lose the tournament from here."

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Tiger Woods, though, isn't given to panic. He knew that he an ace in the hole; a par 5 left, the 16th. "I was hoping I could get one more (birdie) before I got to 16, and then 16 would be my cush," he said. But that did not happen. After putting a 5-wood short and right of the green, leaving him a perfect route to the back-left flag, Woods hit a very poor chip up the hill. A routine birdie was now a 20-footer. "Bad pitch," he said, shaking his head. He backed off the birdie putt after a photographer lying by the green got an itchy trigger finger, then, of course, calmly made the putt. When does he not? "It went in and from there, I said, 'OK, now if I can just play the last two holes fairways-and-greens, let's just get the win." And he did, lagging both birdie putts to inside a foot. "It was a long week," he said of pulling double duty, tournament favorite and host, "But I got the W." And that's all that matters.

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