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NOW ON GOLFWEEKTV: Hate to be Rude: Curtis Strange
Jeff Rude’s “I Hate To Be Rude” column appears on Golfweek.com on Friday, the same day as his video show of the same name.• Sure, he’s still chasing Jack Nicklaus, but in a sense Tiger Woods seems to be competing against himself historically. The question these days isn’t so much “Is Woods better than Jack Nicklaus in his prime?” as it is “Is Woods now better than the Woods of 2000?”
(Answer is yes, by the way.)
That self-competition applied to Nicklaus once he passed Bobby Jones’ 13 major championships. He went from chasing to expanding. His imagination replaced the carrot.
• Barring injury, Woods appears certain to surpass Nicklaus’ record of 18 major professional victories. But will he break the Golden Bear’s win-place-show record of 46? That’s 18 wins, 19 seconds, nine thirds.
So far Woods is at 13-4-3 for 20.
Not that Woods cares about place and show. Because if “second sucks,” as he once said, then what does third feel like?
• Until recently, Retief Goosen was seen more on a tractor in a commercial than on a leaderboard. But the two-time U.S. Open champion has shored up his putting, chipping and backswing and appears to be exiting a long slump. He left the WGC-CA Championship at Doral having shot in the 60s in five of his last six rounds after starting the season 0-for-10.
That is noteworthy because the quiet South African has finished second or third in four of the last six Masters. You want a darkhorse for your Masters pool, Goose is your man.
• Ernie Els, Sergio Garcia and Goosen, elite players all, have one PGA Tour victory apiece since 2004. So it’s hard to win on Tour.
During the same time, Tiger Woods has 24 Tour wins. Maybe it’s not so hard after all.
• One indication golf might be getting more popular is first-name recognition. The NBA for years has been known for that: Wilt, Oscar, Kareem, Magic, Michael, Shaq, Kobe and LeBron, to name a few.
Golf isn’t likely to match hoops in the name game, but here’s progress: Arnie, Jack, Tiger, Phil, Vijay, Annika, Sergio, Chi Chi and, of course, Boo and Woody.
• Worthless stat of the week*: Woods surpassed $80 million in career Tour earnings last week at Doral.
• Golf pet peeves:
No visible yardage markers, cart path only, no-chipping signs by the putting green, loud gas carts, no-walking courses, uneven tees, trees that hang over fairways, marshals who think they wear a badge, drink cart boys, asphalt/cement cart paths that come into play and any discounting of Woods’ recent achievement of seven consecutive worldwide victories with an asterisk.
• I’m thinking maybe Ryuji Imada doesn’t concur with that cart-path peeve. The man who ranked 148th in Tour driving distance last year hit 414-yard drive on the 14th hole during the final round of this year’s Buick Invitational.
Thanks to a cart path.
* Worthless except at the bank.
Posted: 3/28/2008
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