Tiger Woods throughout a observe spherical forward of the Open Championship this week.
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It’s been beautiful, these previous couple months, listening to Tom Weiskopf’s identify in common circulation. Final month, when the U.S. Open was at Pinehurst, Weiskopf was inducted into the World Golf Corridor of Fame, two years, nearly, after his dying. This week, at Royal Troon, a monument to Tom went up, a tribute to his victory on the 1973 British Open at Troon, earlier than Royal was connected to her identify.
Weiskopf himself had a regal bearing. He was the entire package deal, along with his upright carriage, his manly smile, his high-hands backswing, his sweaters, woven from the best cashmere out there. He was a perfectionist. His recreation was constructed for the Masters, for the U.S. Open. He contended a dozen occasions in these two occasions however didn’t win both. He gained the one he wasn’t imagined to win, the British Open, with all its ground-game guesswork. The Open, Tom as soon as instructed me, required him to shelve his instincts for perfection, and that, because the poet mentioned, made all of the distinction.
I can keep in mind that dialog prefer it occurred this morning at breakfast. I used to be interviewing him on the observe placing inexperienced at Royal Birkdale on the 1991 Open. Weiskopf had three balls at his ft, every a unique make and mannequin, considered one of them a High-Flite. He wasn’t experimenting. He was simply hanging out, on the tail finish of his taking part in profession, in a rustic he liked. “It’s too unhealthy I used to be born in the US,” he mentioned. “I ought to have been born a Scot.” He was 48 then.
Tiger Woods is 48 now. It was beautiful, listening to Woods, at his Tuesday press convention, recall the observe spherical he performed with Weiskopf earlier than the 2004 Open at Troon, Weiskopf’s final look in any main. And earlier than we go on right here, let’s make a nod to Weiskopf’s play within the 1995 U.S. Senior Open at Congressional, which he gained, 4 pictures forward of his lifelong foil, Jack Nicklaus. Possibly Tiger Woods will win a U.S. Senior Open sometime. That may be one thing.
TW and TW performed on the Tuesday of that 2004 Open week, beginning at 6 within the morning. (You would begin at 6 at evening.) It was a threesome: Woods and his common practice-round companion, Mark O’Meara, with Weiskopf becoming a member of. Woods had by no means performed with Weiskopf earlier than. Steve Williams, Tiger’s caddie on the time, knew Weiskopf. Woods is basically shy, not outgoing. Usually with Woods there’s an middleman, anyone to provoke one thing. They performed 18 holes in 4 hours. Tom instructed Tiger he was longer at 61 than he was at 30. (A lot of that is courtesy of a 2004 story by Paul Kelso in The Guardian, the British newspaper. Go forward, hug a reporter in the present day.) Remembering that observe spherical from 20 years in the past, Woods mentioned, “I used to be giving him some stick, and he was giving me stick.” It was, Woods mentioned, “a beautiful observe spherical.”
It’s all so beautiful, so mild, so I’m-48-now, don’t you suppose?
It was Woods, in his prime, who invented the concept that, in golf, not successful is shedding. Lengthy earlier than that, Weiskopf had 5 second-place finishes in majors, 4 of them at Augusta, one in a U.S. Open. For Weiskopf, close-but-no-cigar was a failure and it gnarled at him, took a toll on him, however in his day you didn’t usually hear the phrase loss. Loss, failure — perhaps they have been saying the identical issues in numerous methods, however I don’t suppose so. At 48, you’re extra prone to keep in mind those that acquired away. Apply as broadly as chances are you’ll want.
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Tiger was completely different on Tuesday. For one factor, he wasn’t sporting his normal ring of white adhesive tape on the center finger of his proper hand. (Again within the day, to make use of a phrase he’s been utilizing ceaselessly, you by no means noticed that, even on observe day.) However there he was (I noticed it solely by video), leaning ahead in a black swivel chair, not a Swoosh in sight, speaking about loss in its varied kinds.
He paid tribute to Weiskopf. He remembered a Ryder Cup match in opposition to his pal Darren Clarke shortly after the dying of Heather Clarke, Darren’s spouse. He made a reference to the various occasions Michael Jordan misplaced video games with misses on the buzzer and a lack of his personal, on the 2009 PGA Championship at Hazeltine, gained by Y.E. Yang.
“In all probability the toughest loss to recover from,” Woods mentioned, “as a result of I had the lead. I had by no means misplaced a significant championship whereas main.”
In the event you’re in a two-person race for county commissioner, when you’re taking part in on a workforce that’s within the NBA ultimate, when you’re the very best golfer on the planet making an attempt to win a significant after main by 54 holes, you see successful and shedding by one prism. Who can overlook Charlie (Successful!) Sheen on this topic: “There’s solely successful and shedding. There’s nothing in between.”
Then the years pile up. Tiger certainly appears to be like at that observe spherical with Tom Weiskopf otherwise now than he did when he performed it, 20 years in the past. His son, Charlie, is taking part in within the USGA Junior Novice subsequent week, and Charlie, taking a web page from his father, says he’s in it to win it. Tiger might need a unique take concerning the occasion, certainly understanding that at age 15, simply to qualify for the occasion is an immense accomplishment. It’s a win.
Tiger Woods mentioned on Tuesday that he’s taking part in this week to win. Solely he is aware of what he actually means by that. You’ll be able to win at golf with out hoisting a trophy when the shouting is over. Tiger wouldn’t have agreed with that in 2009, when he was the very best participant within the recreation. However that was 15 years in the past. That was then.
Michael Bamberger welcomes your feedback at Michael.Bamberger@Golf.com
