COVER STORY
Woods' fourth consecutive victory hikes his '99
earnings to $6.6 million
By Harry Blauvelt USA TODAY
Tiger Woods has dominated today's top golfers. Now he is chasing the all-time
greats.
Woods survived a roller-coaster final round, beating Miguel Angel Jimenez
on the first playoff hole Sunday to win the American Express World Championship
in Sotogrande, Spain.
He earned $1 million, bringing to $6.6 million his official 1999 PGA Tour
earnings, shattering the record of $2.6 million set last year by David
Duval. Duval is second on the money list this year but almost $3 million
behind Woods.
"Tiger is playing like the angels do," said Spanish standout
Jose Maria Olazabal, a two-time Masters champion.
It was Woods' fourth consecutive victory. He became the first player since
Ben Hogan in 1953 to accomplish the feat. The record is 11 consecutive
victories by Byron Nelson in 1945.
Woods won for the eighth time in his last 11 starts and nine tournaments
overall. His eight PGA Tour victories are the most since Johnny Miller
won eight in 1974.
"I've had a great season," said Woods, winner of 18 career pro
events. "It's nice to end it this way and to get a victory on a tough,
tough, tough day."
Woods, a fourth-year pro who hasn't missed a cut this year, doesn't turn
24 until December, but his peers talk about him in reverential tones.
"Tiger is far and away the best right now," Scotland's Colin
Montgomerie said. "And from what we can ascertain as players, I don't
think that's going to change very much over the next few years."
Woods won Sunday in a playoff with a 12-foot birdie putt on the 18th green
at Valderrama Golf, where floodlights were erected to illuminate the action.
The Spanish Civil Guard, an armed squad in paramilitary uniforms, kept
the gallery in the fairway as Woods rolled in his birdie, climaxing one
of the most memorable years in golf.
Woods was 6 under during a six-hole stretch in the middle of the round.
He chipped in for eagle from 25 feet at No. 11.
Overcame trouble
He hit an 8-iron from 196 yards on the par-3 12th to 8 feet, then made
birdie.
Woods led by three but made bogey at No. 16, then took a disastrous triple bogey at No. 17, where what appeared to be an on-target approach rolled off the green into the water.
The partisan gallery, rooting for native son Jimenez, cheered as Woods' ball trickled 35 feet - past the pin, off the green, down the slope and into the water. Woods, striding confidently toward the green, froze when the ball disappeared.
"It was disappointing to hear the sounds, but understandable," Woods said. "They obviously wanted him (Jimenez) to win."
Woods wasn't too hard on himself. "You can't get down on yourself for hitting good shots," Woods said. "The execution of the shots were all good. It's just unfortunate."
He parred the final hole, then waited in the clubhouse for Jimenez, who bogeyed the 18th to give Woods new life.
Jimenez, two groups behind, appeared to have the tournament won when his approach stayed on the 17th green and he made a 6-foot par putt to stay one stroke ahead.
"I felt as if my chances were greatly diminished," Woods said.
He closed with a 3-under 68, one of only six players to break par on the windy day. Jimenez had a 69 as both golfers finished at 278.
Dudley Hart had a 70 and was at 283, the only other player who finished under par.
Peers impressed
Woods' spectacular shotmaking triggered praise, especially from Montgomerie, who won his seventh consecutive European money title.
"I can't hit shots like him," Montgomerie said. "I can hit some, but the length I can't compete with. And neither can anyone else in the world."
Hal Sutton, a Ryder Cup teammate of Woods, agreed with Montgomerie.
"Tiger is capable of some things not many people in the world are," Sutton said.
Woods turned pro in the fall of 1996, winning the Las Vegas Invitational in his fifth pro start. He staged his coming-out party the following year when he torched The Masters field at Augusta National Golf Club.
Woods won his first major championship there with a Masters record 18 under par. He beat runner-up Tom Kite by 12 strokes, also a record.
The youngest Masters champion ever, Woods set a total of 20 tournament records and tied six more. He
It was his coronation as the new king of professional golf.
Still, that might not have been his finest hour. "I had more pressure at that moment in my life than anything else," he said. "I was battling just to get my (PGA Tour playing) card to be out here with these guys, and I was able to do that"
He won four times in '97, then stepped into the winner's circle just once in 1998, triggering speculation he had slipped.
Game improved
Woods insisted that wasn't true. He was honing his game.
"I hate to tell you I told you so," he said. "I was working on it and I was coming around. No one really believed me."
He worked long hours with instructor Butch Hannon and it paid dividends.
"This year, it finally came together," Woods said.
To make matters worse for his opponents, Woods now sees the ball better than ever.
In October, he underwent LASIK eye surgery, enabling him to play without wearing contact lenses. "My images are bigger," Woods said. "It was very difficult for me to hit long putts, for instance, or to read slopes."
All that has changed.
"Now that I'm, I guess, normal, one of the things that appears to me is the slopes are bigger," he added. "Objects are bigger. The hole is bigger."
Off the course, he sometimes still is photographed wearing shades when he's outside. That's probably because his future is blindingly bright.
More and more, his name will be mentioned in the same breath with Gene Sarazen, Byron Nelson, Ben Hogan, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Tom Watson.
"Tiger is so far ahead of everybody else.... He's going to be difficult to catch," Montgomerie added. "Me way he's performing, he's dangerous anywhere."
In any case, winning the last regular-season PGA Tour event was gratifying for Woods.
The big question: What will he do for an encore in 2000?
"Hopefully, next year I'll play the same type of golf," he said. "We'll see about the number of victories, but see if I can continue to improve:"