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Tiger times three Woods chases even more history at Grand Slam of Golf
Updated: Monday November 20, 2000 3:09 PM
By Jim Huber, Turner Sports POIPU BAY, Kauai -- He will fly into this tiny outermost island in the chain in the early morning hours of Tuesday from the Orient, ask where the gym is, go work out, hit the golf course and begin the second defense of his Grand Slam of Golf championship. It is rather the way Tiger Woods' life goes these days. Flying in, working out, picking up trophies, flying out. He will attempt to become the first man in the long history of this event to win three in a row and why not? He's won just about everything else this year when a record has been on the line. In fact, he's turned the rules of order here completely upside down. Once, it was simple: the four men who win the four majors gather here to become the champion of champions. If one of them happened to win two in one year, which was occasional (Nick Price in 1994, Mark O'Meara in '98), they could rearrange. But in comes the crown prince who would be king, with three of the four titles this season in hand. If they had been holding this event back in 1953, Ben Hogan would have been the last man to have come here with that badge of honor. And add to the rumpled equation the fact that the alternate is usually the man with the best finishes in the other majors who didn't win one. Ernie Els has that dubious but distinct honor this year but he's so tired of losing to Tiger, he found somewhere else he had to be this week, leaving the PGA of America, which hosts the event, to find new ways of filling the four-man field. They might have simply said okay, it's Tiger versus Vijay Singh, the Masters winner in one semifinal on Tuesday and, um, Tiger versus Tiger in the other. He'd play two balls, the best one wins a trip to the final. But instead, they chased down two former major champions -- Tom Lehman and Paul Azinger to fill the roster instead. They return to stroke play for the first time since 1997, having dubiously attempted match play the last two Grand Slams. Dubious, because the folks at the 18th green rarely saw a shot hit. The matches never went that far, and what a shame, for the par-5 18th is a beautiful hole with great potential for drama and disaster. So the stage is set for another Woods record. One of about 343 he's accomplished this remarkable season.
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