The 2005 Masters: Tiger Woods warns another storm could be brewing
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Timothy A. Clary, Getty ImagesTiger Woods has his eye on another green jacket this week at Augusta National.
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>IMG SRC="/pg/images/newsimages/golddot.gif"> Mickelson says there is no feud with Woods
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AUGUSTA, Ga. -- It isn't so much that Tiger Woods doesn't appreciate victories like the one at Doral, where he beat Phil Mickelson by a stroke with a birdie at the 71st hole. In an ideal world, he prefers his titles to come a little easier. Like at Augusta National in 1997, when he won the Masters by a record 12 strokes. Or at Pebble Beach in 2000, when he won the U.S. Open by a record 15 shots.
"I kind of like that," Woods said. "Twelve ... 15 ... double digits. That's nice."
Woods hasn't won any major championships lately, let alone ones by record margins. He has gone 10 in a row without a title, since the 2002 U.S. Open at Bethpage Black. And he hasn't bettered par in seven of the past eight majors.
That is stuff of mere mortals, not Woods. He has watched the immense gap that once existed between him and the world's other top players close appreciably. And he has been passed in the world rankings by Vijay Singh twice in the past nine months.
"I don't think Tiger has played his best the last year or so," said Jack Nicklaus, a former six-time Masters champion. "He's still, obviously, the most dominant player. He's got so much talent. I didn't have to play my best to win, and Tiger doesn't have to play his best to win. But when he plays his best, he's going to probably win. But the other guys have all had to bring their game up."
Woods is hoping to end his major drought at the Masters, a tournament he has already won three times. He insists his game, which has gone through another swing change, is on the precipice of a breakthrough, just like it was in 1999. That's when he won 17 times in a two-year period on the PGA Tour, including five of six majors, after a drastic swing change.
First Published April 6, 2005 12:00 am
