Tiger Woods Takes Command at PGA

CHASKA, Minn. -- It's over. No, that's just stupid. You cannot say that after the first round of a major golf championship.

But Tiger Woods reminded us of everything that made him so great, so special, so exciting, enough to have his own mania named after him. He shot a 67 Thursday in the first round of the PGA Championship, draining long putts and showing that unflinching nerve and confidence you simply don't see in normal, human golfers.

We haven't seen it in Tiger this year either. Not in majors.

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Still, every golfer talks about those times when playing well wasn't enough to win. Hasn't that ever happened to Woods?

"No doubt, there are times I've put it together,'' he said, "and I've had some pretty good margins of victory.''

Uh, that wasn't exactly the question.

"Just feel that overall my game over the years ... it's gotten better and become more consistent. And when I'm playing well, I usually don't make any mistakes.''

It's over. Isn't it? Woods wasn't misinterpreting that question at all, but rather giving his honest opinion: If I'm playing well. I win.

Woods is in the lead, a stroke ahead of last year's champ, Padraig Harrington, whose game went down the tubes for the next 51 weeks, and then returned last week. Harrington had a catastrophe in the final holes of a showdown with Woods last week, though.

"For starters,'' Harrington said, "it wasn't a catastrophe.''

Well, whatever. The point is, we have not seen Woods so comfortable with his swing all year. And already, after just one day, it seems more likely that he's going to win by blowout than not win at all.


But while he has won five tournaments this year since returning from reconstructive knee surgery, and no one else has won more than two, I still think the year has been a failure for him so far.

He says he disagrees, but I don't know. Yes, he won all those tournaments after knee surgery. This time last year, he was just starting to try to walk without a brace, walking in a pool.

"I couldn't do much of anything.''

So yes, he had a recovery to get through. But Woods' career has always been measured in majors. He has built his career around catching Jack Nicklaus' record of 18 major titles. Woods has 14. And this year, he choked the final holes of the Masters, had a bad first round at the U.S. Open and a six-hole meltdown at the British that left him missing the cut.

Unfair to require someone to win a major, or call the year a failure?

Not really. He set the standard.

When the Yankees don't win the World Series, it's failure. If Roger Federer went a year without a major, it would be failure.

If Michael Jordan hadn't won a title, or gotten to the finals? Failure.

They have always billed this tournament as "Glory's Last Shot,'' which seems kind of funny. I think they mean that this is the last chance to have glory this year, as it's the final major.

Instead, it seems to say that glory hasn't existed this year and this is its last shot.

In some ways, that's true. The majors have all been won by The Other Guy. Tom Watson had the British, but Stewart Cink won; Phil Mickelson had a touching win at the U.S. Open all ready, shortly after finding out his wife had breast cancer, but ... Do you remember who won?

Lucas Glover.

This is certainly Woods' last shot of the year. What a relief to see him back like this and not the guy tossing clubs, cursing, and starting to look middle-aged at 33 with a receding hairline.

I do think he is now starting his downside, but that doesn't mean he's done. He has to keep this up for three more days, which he hasn't done in majors this year. If he does, this tournament is definitely over.

He knows. He won the past two weeks in non-majors. And on Wednesday, he was on the putting green at Hazeltine with coach Hank Haney, measuring out 30-foot putts and leaving one after another within a foot.

After his round Thursday, he also didn't have the tight jaw we've seen all year.

Someone asked him about the news Thursday that golf, as well as rugby, had been selected to be in the 2016 Olympics. It's one rubber-stamp away from being official.

"Yeah,'' he said. "I'd love to play for the rugby team.''

What about the risk he took in playing three weeks in a row? Couldn't that have worn him out coming to the PGA?

"I had that nice little rest there right after the British Open,'' he said about not playing on the weekend. "Those two days. That's what got me. I have plenty of energy (now).''

The moment of the day came when Woods was on the green at the 606-yard, 11th hole.

A ball from the group behind rolled up. Long-hitter Alvaro Quiros, who immediately became a cult figure for this shot, had reached the green uphill into the wind on his second shot. When Quiros reached the green, he apologized, and Woods told him, "Nothing to apologize for. Just stupid long, though.''

If you don't know, that was a compliment.

So now here's Woods as a Tiger again. Comfortable. Relaxed.

First round lead and it's over? You can't say that. He could still fall apart, as he has done in the big ones this year.
I remember years ago chasing a first-round leader at a major around the clubhouse, out into the parking lot, as he hadn't realized that you talk to the media if you lead. Who was he? I don't remember. Never heard from him again. Golfing anonymity is filled with first-round leaders.

But they don't have their own manias.

Email me at gregcouch09@aol.com