The Last Word
After an incredibly short off-season, the PGA Tour is set to tee it up again and, as usual, Tiger Woods is the man to beat.
By KEN FIDLIN -- Toronto Sun
You know that obnoxious song that every parent has endured, the one they use on TV to sell headache tablets?
"THIS IS THE SONG THAT NEVER ENDS ..."
Well, that's golf. Except for the obnoxious part, of course.
It is the season that never ends. Or doesn't seem to. Just over three weeks ago, Davis Love III held off Tiger Woods to win the final PGA Tour event of 2003, the Target World Challenge. Today, the 2004 season begins at the Mercedes Championship in Hawaii.
And, like the song, it's the same old monotonous story: The man to beat is always Tiger Woods.
"Obviously, Tiger is the best player, but now everybody has their share of something from last year," Love said in a pre-tournament interview this week.
"I won four times. Vijay (Singh) won (four) times, won the money title, four first-time winners in the majors. It got spread around a little bit.
"But you still know the guy to beat is Tiger. We get beat up for being honest, but he is the guy to beat, no argument."
One of the huge differences about 2003 was that many people did beat him, especially in the tournaments that Woods holds near and dear: The four majors, the Players Championship and Target.
"He won a great percentage of the events he played in, but he didn't win one, two, three, four, five or six on his list," Love said.
That said, Woods still won player of the year honours, even though, because of the high standards he has set in previous years, there was this odd perception he was in a slump. Maybe this year he'll win comeback player of the year.
"We're all right there," Love said. "There's a big group that is chasing him. He knows it and he likes it that way. He prefers it that way."
That group includes Mike Weir, whose Masters title led to a pair of year-end top-athlete awards in Canada. Just a year ago, Weir was coming off a disappointing 2002 season and came out of the gate on fire, winning twice in his first four weeks back at work. Because of his hugely successful year, he played deep into golf's silly season of December and has had very little time to prepare for today's first competitive round of the year.
"I'll just be shaking the rust off and hoping I can sink a few putts," Weir said.
After this week, Weir will lay low for a week until he begins defence of his title at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic on Jan. 21.
As usual, Weir and all the top players will be tailoring their schedules to set them up for top performances in the four majors.
For Weir, it will be a new experience heading back to the scene of his greatest triumph, at Augusta, where he will be a centre of attention April 8-11. From there, the focus will shift to Shinnecock Hills on Long Island, site of the United States Open, June 17-20.
A month later, the usual suspects will be lined up at Royal Troon, in Scotland, July 15-18. The season of majors finishes up at a new venue, Whistling Straits, in Wisconsin, Aug. 12-15.
While Annika Sorenstam steadfastly maintains you won't see her in the starting field at any more PGA events after her missed cut at Colonial last June, it doesn't mean there won't be women attempting to challenge the men.
Next week, for example, teenage sensation Michelle Wie will be in the field at the Sony Open.
Just as Weir set a torrid pace out of the gate last year, so did Ernie Els, who won four of his first five events, including the Mercedes and the Sony. Els also played in Singapore and Australia last winter and is expecting to slow things down a bit this year so he has something in reserve for the meat of the season.
"When I got to Bay Hill (in March) I was already kind of done," said Els, who estimates he spent 350 hours on his private jet last season.
"It was a tough schedule. Last year I was still running across (to Europe and back), playing both tours in the middle of the year. I'll still have a full schedule, a world schedule but I'll take it a little easier."
His opponents will be thrilled to hear that, given that he won the two Hawaii events with a cumulative score of 47-under par.
That's one song they hope will end. But don't count on it.
