Matthew Bates continues his series profiling
the greatest players of all time,
with a timely
look at the man responsible
for
revolutionising the modern game.
Is Tiger Woods the best golfer of all-time?
It is a debate that has been raged around
golf clubs for years.
But whatever the answer,
it is clear that Woods's extraordinary golfing talents
are celebrated around the world.
In November, the 33-year-old was paid $3million
to play in the Australian Masters,
set in Melbourne, Victoria.
He led the tournament from start to finish,
and the fact that Victorian taxpayers footed half
of the bill for
Woods's appearance shows just
how in demand the American star is.
Earning over $100m each year,
he is the highest earning sportsman
in the world,and is widely expected to
become
the first sportsman to be worth over $1billion.
A DECADE OF DOMINANCE
Golf has rarely seen one player dominate
the sport as
Woods has since
he won his first major championship in 1997.
Jack Nicklaus holds the record for
the most major victories,
but Woods is only four behind and has time on his side.
In fact, when the Golden Bear was at the same stage
of his career he had only won 12 of his 18 majors.
Born in California, 1975, Eldrick Woods was
nicknamed
Tiger in honour of
a Vietnamese soldier who
had been friends
with Woods's father Earl,
a retired lieutenant colonel
in the US Army.
EARLY PROMISE
At just two-years-old,
Tiger was already making a name for himself.
He appeared on the Mike Douglas Show,
where he putted and drove the ball.
A year later,
he scored 48 over nine holes,
and by the time
he was 13 he was a scratch golfer.
Woods's amatuer career was a spectacular success.
He is the only man to have won
three consecutive US Amateur Championships
- something not even the great Bobby Jones could achieve.
And in 1997, under a year after turning pro,
he was already the number one ranked player
in the world and the youngest person to
ever hold the position.
It was also the year he won his first major.
MAJOR SUCCESS
Set around the famous Augusta course,
Woods was to set another record in his young career,
winning the Masters by a massive 12-shot margin.
Although that outcome would
have only been
a dream for Woods after
his first nine holes
round the treacherous Georgia course,
where he could only manage a score of 40.
But he shot 30 over the back nine
and kept himself in contention.
The round epitomised Woods's never-say-die attitude,
that every player on Tour fears.
BREAKING DOWN BARRIERS
Woods was the first black golfer to win a major.
It took until 1975, the year of Tiger's birth,
for an African-American to even be allowed to play in the tournament,
and the
Augusta club did not have any black members until 1990.
Woods's extraordinary win was not just a victory for golf;
it was a victory for racial equality.
When he walked off the 72nd green,
he immediately looked for his father,
embracing him and letting the tears flow.
He had to wait two years for another major victory,
but when it came, it signalled
the start of dominance
never before seen
in golfing history.
No one in golf
has ever won the grand slam -
winning
all four majors in one year -
and although Woods would not be the first,
he did manage to create his own unique 'Tiger Slam'.
The 1999 US PGA Championship
saw
Woods triumph over young-gun
Sergio Garcia
in an enthralling contest
at Medinah Country Club,
and a year later Woods would
win three of the four majors on offer.
The new millennium had
not started well for Woods,
with Vijay Singh winning the Masters.
TIGER ROARS AT THE TURN OF THE CENTURY
But for the rest of the year, Woods was unstoppable.
He won his first US Open by a record 15 shots and
the Open Championship by eight,
before defending his US PGA Championship crown
and winning the 2001 Masters next spring.
He became the first man to hold all four majors at once.
The rest of the golfing world feared Woods.
Every time he was in a tournament,
players knew they would need
Woods to
play poorly in order for them to win.
And even when Woods was struggling
with his game,
or his body,
he still managed to find ways to beat opponents.
TORREY PINES TRIUMPH
Two months before the 2008 US Open,
he underwent surgery on his left knee for the third time,
and his national Open was his first tournament back.
He was clearly suffering while on the course though,
wincing in pain after almost every shot.
But Tiger somehow battled his way up the leaderboard.
Come Sunday evening, Woods
was level
with fellow American Rocco Mediate,
and it took an 18-hole playoff plus
one extra sudden-death hole to decide the winner.
Even while virtually playing on one leg,
Woods had somehow won again.
It may not have been as comprehensive
as
his 15-stroke victory at Pebble Beach,
or as dominant as his first Masters,
but it didn't need to be.
It was his 14th major win,
and his arguably his most impressive.
CHINK IN THE ARMOUR?
But it has also been his last, as the 2009 season
saw
Woods fail to grab a major and
also give up
a 54-hole lead in
a major for the first time in his whole career.
Before the US PGA Championship,
Woods had won every single time
he had gone into the final round ahead.
So when Woods went into
Sunday's play
at Hazeltine two shots ahead of the field,
it was only a very brave soul
who bet against the great man.
But instead of romping home like everyone thought,
he lost the championship by three shots.
And the man who dethroned the king?
Yang Yong-eun - a South Korean
ranked 110th
in the world who
became the first Asian-born man
to win a major championship.
It was reassuring for Woods's fellow professionals
to know that he is human after all.
But if he can get back to winning ways next season,
who's to say he won't be the first man to
win the grand slam,
and
in the process equal Jack Nicklaus's major record?
It would undoubtedly be an astonishing achievement,
but Woods's whole career has been astonishing,
and one thing is for sure winning it all will be his target.
- MATTHEW BATES FOR GOLF.CO.UK
