In the Name of King

"Towards real Grand Slam…"

`Golf King` Tiger Woods (27. U.S.A.) started off for `One Season-Grand Slam` by becoming the third golfer in the history of 66 Masters to win 2 consecutive titles.

The final 4th round of the 66th Masters took place at Augusta National Golf Club (par 72. 7270 yards), Georgia, on the 15th.

Woods did not allow any other chasers like Retief Goosen (South Africa), who made bogeys from the very first hole, to overtake or even be a tier, but led the single lead until the end.

The winning score was 12-under 276, the only 2-digit under par for all participating players, and the prize 1.8 million dollars.

Woods’ amazing concentration, which enabled him to win 22 out of 24 games that he took the lead by the final rounds, proved to be mightier than ever even at the notorious `marble green` of Augusta GC.

Woods already outran Goosen in the first half by 5 strokes. In the second half, Vijay Singh (Fiji), who once caught up by 2 stoke-difference, and Ernie Els (South Africa) made a quadruple-bogey and triple bogey at 15th and 13th holes, destroying themselves.

Including his record-setting victory in 1997, Woods stepped onto tied-No.3, after Jack Nicklaus (6 titles) and Arnold Palmer (4 titles), in the history of the Masters by winning 3 titles. Also, he added another Masters record by being the youngest winner of 3 titles (26, 4 months).

Meanwhile, Woods has now stood on the same level with `Golf Masters` like Palmer, Sam Snead, Gene Sarazen, and Harry Vardon by winning 7 major titles within 7 years since debut. The only golfers who have more titles than Woods only include 5 players, such as Nicklaus (18), Walter Hagen (11), Ben Hogan, Gary Player (over 9), and Tom Watson (8).

The new record that the international golf world now may expect from Woods is `Single Season – Grand Slam`, which conquers all 4 major tournaments (Masters, U.S. Open, British Open, U.S. PGA Championship) during one season.

Although Woods once won 4 major tournaments starting from the U.S. Open in 2000 to the Masters in 2001, he only had to satisfy himself with a new term `Tiger Slam`, because `real Grand Slam requires victory over all major tournaments that take place in the same year`.

Young-Sik Ahn ysahn@donga.com