October 5, 2021
It is sometimes difficult to fathom, but the media circus has travelled with Tiger Woods since before even Twitter and Facebook dominated our world.
As a reminder, harken back to 25 years ago – October 6, 1996, to be exact – when the 20-year-old Woods broke through for his first PGA Tour win in just his fifth start.
While the number of journalists on-site may have been thin compared to this week’s Shriners Children’s Open – or at least when compared to a month earlier, when Woods made his pro debut in Milwaukee or a few weeks prior when he got into contention at the Quad City Classic in Illinois – the Vegas storylines were plentiful.
Fuelled in large part, of course, by players who were none too happy with the great buzz surrounding Woods. “Everything has been Tiger, Tiger,” moaned Fred Funk. “They kind of forget about everyone else out here.”
Such chatter did not fluster Woods, who might have arrived at the Las Vegas Invitational too young to partake in the casinos – “I can watch, that’s about it,” he shrugged – but he was already battle-tested when it came to media scrutiny and more than capable of brushing aside the petty critiques.
Equally impressive was Woods’ ability to nonchalantly put behind him the sort of pedestrian opening round that he produced at Las Vegas Hilton, one of three courses used for the five-round Las Vegas Invitational. With a 70, Woods was eight off Rick Fehr’s lead.
By now, Woods already had already demonstrated the explosive talent that lifted him to three consecutive wins in the U.S. Amateur. After a tie for 60th in his debut in Milwaukee, Woods ran off a T11 in Canada, a share of fifth in Quad City, and a T3 at the B.C. Open.
He had shot in the 60s in seven of eight rounds prior to Vegas, so no one was shocked when Woods followed that 70 with a stunning 63 at the host course, TPC Summerlin, and a 68 at Desert Inn to push into a tie for eighth, six off Fehr’s lead.
So, sorry, Mr. Funk, but it mattered little that seven players had better 54-hole scores, or that luminaries such as Davis Love III, Fred Couples, Phil Mickelson, Payne Stewart and Jim Furyk were in attendance. All spotlights focused on Woods, especially because this was a 90-hole hole tournament, meaning the kid from Stanford had two more rounds to make up the deficit.
Though the third round had kept Woods in the thick of things, it had left him in pain – mentally and physically. He had, after all, played the front nine in five-under, so finishing with 68 left him seething. But more importantly, Woods had aggravated a groin injury that he insisted dated back to his U.S. Amateur win in Augusts.
“(With) all the golf I’ve been playing, I never gave it a chance to heal,” explained Woods.
His burning desire to do the improbable – earn his PGA Tour card by finishing in the top-125 on the money list in fewer than 10 starts – had prompted the heavy schedule. It had also ignited some controversy, too, because citing burn-out, Woods had withdrawn from the Buick Challenge and a dinner at which he was to receive the Haskins Award as the nation’s top collegiate golfer.
Read the entire article by By Jim McCabe PGA Tour
