Woods starting to see full impact of swing change
By Helen Ross, PGATOUR.com Chief of Correspondents
LA JOLLA, Calif. -- He says he still has holes in his game that he needs to fix.
Say what? Is this the same Tiger Woods who led the Buick Invitational by as many as 11 Sunday and ended up winning by eight strokes?
Talk about looking for a needle in a haystack. Woods knows better, though. The things he's been working on with Hank Haney have Woods "headed in the right direction," and who can argue with success?
With Sunday's victory, his fourth straight at Torrey Pines and sixth overall, Woods tied Arnold Palmer for career victories at 62. Woods reached the milestone in his 13th season, though, while the King needed seven more.
"He'll give me grief, just like he always does," Woods said. "He always gives me the needle, which is great. I'll do the same, and it will actually probably be more fun when I can needle him if I can get ahead of him."
And Palmer knows that time will come sooner, rather than later. "I'm sure that there are many, many more coming in the future," the World Golf Hall of Famer said on Sunday. "There isn't any question about that. I wish him all the luck in the world."
Sunday's victory was Woods' sixth in his last seven starts, dating back to last year's World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational. And the one he didn't win? Well, Woods finished second.
Not a bad stretch, to be sure. And there will be more, don't ever doubt it. Perhaps even a calendar year Grand Slam that Woods says is "within reason" this year.
Woods' painstaking work on his swing, his putting, his chipping, his everything, really, has him in position to redefine the game. He stopped short of saying he's reached another level, but there are others who would disagree.
"Well, that's hard to explain to people," Woods said. "That's one of the reasons I made the changes I made is I knew I could attain another level, and here we are."
Indeed. Woods said he's playing better than he did in 2000 when he won the final three majors of the year, and nine times overall. He completed what came to be known as the Tiger Slam with the Masters the following April.
"You're never there," Woods said. "I'm starting to get better. I'm hitting shots that I never could hit before, even in 2000. People think, yeah, you played great, but I made everything. I'm actually hitting the ball better now than I did during that stretch."
Stewart Cink, who finished in a distant third-place tie with Rory Sabbatini, said he's never seen Woods play better, and he's been playing against him for nearly 20 years. Deadly control has replaced the errant tee shots, and Woods has become nothing short of the ubergolfer, as a result.
"He plays very smart, hits the right shot," Cink said. "He very rarely puts himself into position where he's going to make worse than the occasional bogey (and) most of the time he's going to make a lot of birdies."
"He's playing well, you know?" agreed Sabbatini, who hasn't always been known to praise Woods. "Obviously he's kind of been on cruise control today, and when he's on cruise control it's almost impossible to get him."
Ryuji Imada, who slipped into sole possession of second when he matched Sabbatini for the day's low round of 67, said he started Sunday with the knowledge victory was "a little bit out of reach" in what he innocently called the "Tiger Woods Invitational."
Even Phil Mickelson agreed. "The weekend, nobody really thought too much about winning, I don't think," he said.
Woods is off to the Middle East this week to play in the Dubai Desert Classic. While many expect his first chance to break the record to come at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Woods was predictably coy.
"Hopefully, I can do it before then," he said.
Next up on the ladder is Ben Hogan's record of 64, just two wins away. Woods recalled talking with the man many consider to be the game's best ball-striker several times in 1997. He called because "I just wanted to talk with him.
"I mean, he is a legend of the game, and I never got a chance to meet him," Woods said. "His health wasn't good enough for me to come over to Shady (Oaks) and talk to him, but he was at home."
Woods is well acquainted with another target, Jack Nicklaus, who has 73 career wins. Sam Snead set the standard on the PGA TOUR with 82, but Woods knows he -- and his legion of fans -- need to be patent.
"Those take time," he said. "Those aren't going to happen overnight, and it's going to take a long time. Those guys did it over an entire career. I figure this is my 13th season on TOUR, and I'm just kind of getting into my stride of my career."
And what of his place in history? Woods isn't ready to even think about where he'll fit in -- yet.
"My career is not done yet," Woods said, flashing that dazzling smile. "Hopefully, my good years are still ahead of me."
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