ST. ANDREWS – History awaits at this 129th British Open Championship, and what better place for something historic to happen than at the birthplace of golf – St. Andrews and the Old Course.
As the proceedings get underway today alongside the North Sea here, the golf world awaits, with a buzz of anticipation, Tiger Woods’ bid to become the youngest player in the game’s storied history to complete a career grand slam.
Woods has his Masters green jacket, won in record form in 1997 at Augusta National, where he lapped the field and won by 12 shots.
He has his PGA Championship, having dramatically staved off Sergio Garcia, one of his up-and-coming challengers, in 1999 at Medinah.
And he has his U.S. Open title, secured in astonishing record fashion last month at Pebble Beach, where Woods not only won by a major-record 15 shots, but was the only player under par for the week.
What’s left for Woods is the British Open, a championship in which he’s already been knocking at the door, having finished seventh last year at Carnoustie and third in 1998 at Royal Birkdale.
Jack Nicklaus was 26 when he completed the career grand slam. If Woods wins here this week, his 24-year-old arms will hoist the Auld Claret Jug as the fourth and final major in his career slam – incredibly with his career only just beginning.
Only Ben Hogan, Gene Sarazen, Gary Player and Nicklaus have accomplished the greatest, most difficult feat in golf – winning the British Open, U.S. Open, Masters and U.S. PGA at least once each.
To further drive home what kind of impressive achievement completing a career grand slam is, consider these all-time greats – and multiple major winners – whom the feat has eluded: Arnold Palmer, Byron Nelson, Sam Snead, Tom Watson, Walter Hagen and Lee Trevino, to name only a few.
“When it’s time to go out [today] I won’t care about the slam,” Woods said. “It’ll be time to play, stay in the present and focus in on the job at hand. If my career goes as long as I hope it will, I think I might have a few more opportunities to complete the slam.”
Of course, though, Woods wants it now.
And to get it, he’ll have to endure some treacherous conditions at the Old Course, which is playing as softly as a black-top driveway. Add the 112 bunkers of varying shapes, sizes and depths, along with greens that are so expansive they’ll will often present players with putts of 60, 70, 80 feet and even more, and the task will be no layup for the talented Woods.
Don’t forget, too, the competition he faces from the rest of the field, with top players such as Ernie Els, Colin Montgomerie, Tom Lehman and Nick Price at the top of their respective games.
“Related to the rest of the field, Tiger is a better player,” Nicklaus said. “That doesn’t necessarily mean he’s going to win. I may have come here a few times being the better player and I did not win every time I came out to play. There are a lot of other great players, too.
“But,” Nicklaus went on, “[Woods] will take a lot of the bunkers out of play with the driver on this golf course if he wishes to do so.”
The severe pot bunkers are a major issue here this week, because the R&A (Royal & Ancient Golf Club) reworked a lot of them and the walls in them are particularly steep, which will force players to have to try to hit sideways and even backward to get out – an automatic penalty stroke in essence.
So don’t expect Woods to be blasting away with driver on every hole, even though he’s capable of driving several of the par 4s, including 18. This will be a week of strategy and only the mentally toughest will survive and be left standing with the jug on Sunday.
A number of players have noted that the dry and hard fairways are actually faster than the greens. Imagine that at Augusta National.
“Length might not be the great asset that we’ve all talked about,” Montgomerie said. “Everyone is going to hit it an awfully long way this week, but it is where you hit it and where the second shots go that will be the key.”
The weather forecast here this week is calling for atypical Scottish weather – not a lot of wind, little to no rain and a lot of sun. That’ll dry the course up even more.
“This is what the R&A wanted,” Montgomerie said. “They wanted a true links test in the year 2000 and they certainly have it. If you do not have spikes on, you’ll slip down the first fairway. It is incredible.
“I believe there’s going to be a lot of skill required to get the ball close [to the pins]. This is as links a golf course as we will ever, ever play.”
Woods spent the last week-plus in Ireland honing his links game in between some fishing with friends. The players in this 2000 Open field hope he spent more time fishing than working on his knock-down shots and putting. They know better, though.
“He is the favorite every week he plays,” Vijay Singh said of Woods. “We should forget about him and play our own game.” History awaits. And here at St. Andrews, history has a habit of being made.
