Tiger Woods: Grand Slam Trail
by Brendan Cole
China will hold the most controversial Olympics since the early 1980s later this year but no matter what else happens this year, 2008 might just go down in sporting history as the year one man finally brought to its knees a game it was once thought could never be subjugated.
The Grand Slam - professional golf's equivalent of Mount Everest - is 'within reach', according to Tiger Woods, who may be the only man for whom it will ever qualify as a legitimate goal.
Can it be done? Of course it can; in fact, in the eyes of many and in his own opinion, Woods has already had a 'Grand Slam year', holding all four professional majors at the same time by winning the US Open, Open Championship and USPGA 2000 and the Masters in 2001.
History also hints that a once-in-an-era golfer at the peak of his powers can be dominant enough.
Ben Hogan, for one, has the 1953 'Hogan Slam' season to his name, a three-major season including a British Open won at Carnoustie.
This was in an era when the vagaries of travel and the undefined nature of the professional season meant that American professionals typically played the USPGA tournament, then a matchplay, while European based professionals played the Open Championship. It was back then literally impossible to play in all four competitions, as they overlapped or virtually overlapped most years and did in 1953.
In any case, Hogan didn't like the fourth major and, post-car accident, he had even less time for the gruelling match-play format than in the 30s and 40s. The sometimes cantankerous Texan was also reportedly indifferent to the organising body. For whatever reason, he played the USPGA only infrequently, especially as he got older.
'Golden Bear'
Jack Nicklaus also came close, winning the first two majors of the year in 1972 before finishing second to Lee Trevino in the Open at Carnoustie. Trevino needed a brilliant chip in at the 17th on the last day to stave off a 'Golden Bear' comeback from six back going into the final round.
The achievement of the amateur Bobby Jones in 1930, when he conquered the 'impregnable quadrilateral' of Opens and amateur Championships on both sides of the Atlantic remains separate and hugely impressive, regardless of what happens this summer.
Jones, Hogan and Nicklaus are arguably the 20th century's greatest and certainly the best American golfers ever. At 32, Woods is already their equal, and has, with his 13 Majors and 'Tiger Slam', already got the record to at least match them. There would, however, be a unique symmetry and momentum to a 'Grand Slam' achieved against all comers in a single season - four months - and a solidity for the ages with an entire calendar year of Major records reading '2008: T. Woods'.
Swing Change
What does Woods have that others lack?
Tournament winners hole long putts, and this is perhaps what separates Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods from the pack as the two greatest scorers the modern game has seen.
But that has been the case throughout Woods' career. Now, after the most scrutinised swing change the game has ever known, his big miss, the block to the right, off the tee is largely gone, vanquished by a more rounded, more sweetly rhythmic, but still powerful and accurate new action.
As Woods himself puts it: 'Now, I just miss fairways or I just miss greens but obviously I'm not off the planet like I used to be.'
Needless to say, the pack - amid suggestions they all play worse when Woods is in the field - will have a big say. As Geoff Ogilvy proved at Doral two weeks ago, there are players of real quality and with the requisite mental fortitude capable of beating Woods if he falters even slightly.
In every major, at least four or five players will play exceptional golf, hole 20 and 30 footers, strike the ball purely, have the luck, and cope well enough with the pressure to win. In a normal year, Woods would be the leader among that group; the guy with the best chance of being plucked out by fate.This year, thanks to the suitability of Augusta and the US Open venue, Torrey Pines, his proven mastery of the shots and strategy required by Open Championship courses, and his solid record in the USPGA, Woods is seen as having a real chance of reaching a new level: a 50/50 chance in every major, and an 8/1 shot at matchless golfing immortality.
This year, for perhaps the first time ever, it is truly one man versus the courses, the field and history.
Track Record:
Key Holes: 'Amen Corner', holes 11, 12 and 13, is traditionally where the destiny of Masters Champions is shaped, but the par-fives - holes two, eight, 11, 13 and 15, were the basis of Zach Johnson's win last year and are often where the eventual winners get the best chance to show their superiority.
With the fairways firm in 2007, the short-hitting Iowan laid up every time but still scored brilliantly thanks to exceptional wedge play and putting. Woods could follow suit by adopting a more cautious approach.
Key Shots: Augusta will test everything, but Woods' putting, driving and course management on the par fives, the traditional scoring holes, may be the key to getting his Grand Slam bid underway.
Bobby Jones, who designed the course with Alistair Mackenzie, loved to draw the ball - something that came easy to his roundhouse swing - and Tiger will have to do the same off the tee here; shaping it from right to left for most of the tee shots through the four rounds.
The greens are phenomenally fast - Ian Woosnam famously practiced on a pool table before winning in 1991 - but also heavily sloped, and demand perfect touch and nerves of steel.
After missing with key long shots into the par fives last year, including one dumped in the water in his final round, Woods may opt to follow Johnson's more cautious approach on some occasions and lay-up before pitching.
Augusta Record: Woods announced himself to the world with a 12-shot victory in 1997 and has won four green jackets, the last of which was in 2005. However, Phil Mickelson has a better record in the last four years (two wins), and many are hoping for a first ever Sunday showdown between the pair.
