Tiger's reign in jeopardy
Ken Fidlin isn't making any predictions, but Tiger Woods' days as golf's No. 1 may be over
By KEN FIDLIN -- Toronto Sun
The battle for the No. 1 spot in golf, for years the undisputed domain of Tiger Woods, is being joined this week at one of the hottest new tournaments on the PGA Tour.
The Wachovia Championship is only in its infancy, but in its second year it already is one of those can't-miss places for anyone who is anyone.
As such, it's only right that the focus will be on the two best players in golf at Quail Hollow Golf Club in Charlotte over the next four days.
For the first time in five years, Woods' supremacy is being seriously challenged, this time by 41-year-old Vijay Singh, currently playing the game better than anyone else on the planet.
Singh won his second consecutive rain-delayed tournament on Monday, and third of the season. Even before these past two weeks, Singh had been closing the gap in the world rankings, a complicated system acknowledged as the definitive yardstick over a rolling two-year period, that Woods has dominated most of his career.
COULD BE OVERCOME
Singh trails Woods by 2.14 points. Without making your eyes glaze over, that's a margin that could be overcome by the time the United States Open is played next month at Shinnecock Hills on Long Island.
By that time, the two men will have faced each other head on at least three times -- this week, next week at the Byron Nelson and two weeks later at the Memorial.
The question is, will Woods overcome his recent swing problems and respond to this immediate challenge?
"It's a fact I won't be No. 1 in the world forever," Woods said during a pre-tournament interview session yesterday.
"Either someone flat-out outplays me or I might not play at the same level or old age takes over.
"Whatever the circumstances, it's going to happen. Every street comes to an end. That's just a fact of life, just as we're going to have, I'm sure, in the future some new young kid who comes out here and surpass Nicklaus' records, my records, at a younger age. That's just the way it is -- the evolution of sports."
Just for the record, there are 140-some others entered at Wachovia, including a handful of players, including Masters champion Phil Mickelson and Canadian Mike Weir who would love to throw their hats in the ring to be No. 1.
Mickelson is ranked fifth and Weir sixth, but neither is in the kind of challenging position that Singh finds himself.
Weir has been working hard on his game the past couple of weeks in an attempt to overcome the swing problems that saw him struggle at the Masters and The Players Championship.
But while he has been practising, Singh has been making hay in competition.
How good is the Fijian playing right now? Well, last weekend when he won the New Orleans event, he shot 29 on the back nine in the fourth round, overcoming a six-shot deficit on the last eight holes.
Over the course of that event, he sank 52 of 53 putts of fewer than 10 feet. Put yourself in the middle of a PGA Tour event and digest that stat for a moment. In his last nine holes, he needed only 10 putts. These are Tiger-esque statistics.
"It's closer than it has ever been," Singh said yesterday.
"I'd like to get to the No. 1 spot. That has been my goal for a long time. If there's any chance I would ever make it to No. 1, it will probably be this year. It depends upon how Tiger plays."
Majors count for more in the rankings and Woods hasn't won one since the 2002 U.S. Open.
Truth is, Vijay's major drought is even longer. Woods makes headlines for being 0-fer the last seven majors. But if we're being fair about this, what about Singh's 0-for-16 in majors since the 2000 Masters?
There is no question that Woods is held to a higher standard than anyone else in his sport.
During the past two years, he has played 39 tournaments and has won 10 of them and finished in the top 10, 27 times without missing a cut. Despite that, he is portrayed as being in a "slump." Nobody, not even Singh has played that well.
Over the same two-year period, Singh has played 58 tournaments, winning eight times, accumulating 32 top 10 finishes while missing five cuts.
ALL ABOUT WINNING
But since last fall, he has been on fire.
"It's all about winning," Woods said.
"If you win, you move up a lot. The more times that you win, as I did the last four or five years -- I've won five or more tournaments every year -- that's what has been able to sustain me at this level."
And that's the problem then, isn't it? Not only has Woods not been playing as often as Singh, he hasn't been winning as often in the past few months.
However the drama plays itself out, it will create plenty of sparks over the next few months, beginning today.
