Like Palmer, Woods expects to win -- and inspire
By Helen Ross, PGATOUR.com Chief of Correspondents
ORLANDO, Fla. -- One was sans-a-belt and polyester. He was a man's man in an era where that meant having a couple of beers and a smoke in the 19th hole after the final putt dropped.
The other man's tastes run to fist-pumps, not hitched-up trousers, and he always wears red on Sunday. Those form-fitting shirts reveal a ripped body that never strays far from the workout room, too.
Arnold Palmer, aka the King, and Tiger Woods, who has ascended to the throne, are separated by two generations and thousands of rounds of golf. But they will forever be joined by their ability not only to play the game, but to draw new people to it.
Their names came together once again three weeks ago when Woods won the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship to pass Palmer on the PGA TOUR's career victories list with 63.
No text messages, here, like the ones Woods sends to Roger Federer and Annika Sorenstam. Woods planned to deliver his one-up punch to Palmer in person but "I can't say it here," he told reporters Wednesday with a sly grin. "I'll get in trouble."
And what better place than at the Bay Hill Club, which hosts the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard this week, and offers Woods the first opportunity to tie Ben Hogan, who is next up on the wins ladder?
Woods came home to Orlando riding a PGA TOUR win streak of four -- and five, if you count that victory in Dubai last month. He's talked of this year winning the Grand Slam in the configuration Palmer first floated over cocktails with sportswriter Bob Drum as they were flying to the 1960 British Open.
"We still talk about (Bobby) Jones and the Grand Slam," Palmer said. "Well, that's what kind of gave me the idea in 1960 to bring that on. He's the only man that ever did it, and probably the only one that ever will; whether it be two Amateurs and two Opens (as Jones did) or the PGA, Masters and the two Opens.
"So if it happens, it will be a legacy that will hang in with the PGA TOUR forever as the Jones situation has. And as I mentioned earlier, it's exciting. (To) hit home runs, go for 400 games as a quarterback and win them all, or whatever it is, in golf, this is something that will be noted for many, many years, if it ever happens."
Now Woods, who has held all four majors consecutively, although not in the same year, doesn't tee it up without expecting to win -- not unlike Palmer, Jones, Ben Hogan, Jack Nicklaus and Sam Snead before him. "If you are entered into field, I don't understand why you would ever think any other way," Woods says simply.
As a player, Palmer was more of a gambler than Woods has ever been, more like the forerunner of Phil Mickelson, if you will. Palmer didn't accept that he could no longer compete until he was in his mid-60s, either, and to this day, at the age of 78, he still plays daily.
"No one enjoyed playing more golf than Arnold," Woods said. "I know that he does all of his business stuff early in the morning so he can get out and play in the afternoon. That just goes to show you, he just loves playing. "
Woods' approach is more exacting, although equally exciting. With every putt he stalks and each fist he pumps, Woods ignites the crowd, but the full measure of his game can be traced to those many hours he spends more solitarily on the practice range.
"We don't have time for me to tell you what I think about Tiger and his golf, because I think that right now, he has got it by the neck and he's choking it and he should." Palmer said. "When you play that well, as he has, and his game is obviously responding to his commands, and I think that's what it's going to take to do the things that we're talking about."
With every major he wins to edge closer to Nicklaus' 18, and with each victory that brings him closer to Snead's all-time record 83, though, Woods' legendary focus will be tested as the pressure mounts. No matter how extraordinary his talents are.
"I suppose the fact that back in his mind and the mind of everyone out here playing golf, is that he has the ability to just win at random," Palmer said. "And of course, there were times when I was playing that I felt like I could do that. I felt like I could win the tournament when I really had to win.
"(But it) doesn't make it any easier. It means that you have to really work hard to do it, and Tiger is not going to be any different than anyone else. He is going to have to work and suffer some to do the things that he wants to do -- and that everybody is expecting him to do."
When Woods' playing career is finally over, his legacy, like Palmer's, will extend far beyond the sure-to-be record-setting number of his last victory.
There are the charitable foundations each man has funded, as well as the future generation of golfers they've inspired with their passion and performance.
Quite simply, though, the greatest gift bestowed by Palmer and Woods may be in the way they lived their lives -- and therein may lie the most satisfaction.
"I'm pleased that I was able to do what I did from a golfing standpoint,' Palmer said. "I would like to think that I left them more than just that."
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