Tiger Woods vs. the World

Woods is now the second player ever to win three straight major championships (Ben Hogan, 1953), and the first ever to win four of five consecutive majors (having won the same tournament he won this weekend, the PGA, this time last summer). He also now holds the scoring record—relative to par—for all four major tournaments. Personally, I don't put much stock in that last statistic. Modern players use such superior technology—metal woods, perimeter-weighted irons, golf balls with spin rates peculiarly suited to their playing styles, not to mention the technology of bionic training—that this sort of intergenerational comparison isn't fair. More significant is the astounding margins by which Woods won the Masters and the British and U.S. Opens. And this most recent victory offered a different testament by virtue of the narrowness of the margin. The last nine holes of regulation play, and the following three playoff holes, were a pressure-packed, mano a mano duel, and Woods didn't flinch.