Woods silences naysayers, erases any doubts with win
By Helen Ross, PGATOUR.COM Chief of Correspondents
DUBLIN, Ohio -- If there were questions, and where Tiger Woods is concerned that should always be a big if, the answers came Sunday in his near-flawless performance at the Muirfield Village.
Woods put to rest any concerns about the state of his game with a fearless 65 that included birdies on his final two holes to win the Memorial Tournament. The win was his fourth in Jack Nicklaus' signature event, second of the year and the 67th of his career.
Oh, and in case there were any lingering doubts, Woods erased them and established himself as the odds-on favorite to win the U.S. Open at Bethpage Black in two weeks. Just as he did in 2000 at Pebble Beach after his last Memorial Tournament victory.
"I wish you'd all quit (ticking) him off," runner-up Jim Furyk said with a smile. "That's about all I have to say about that. Wish you'd just quit chapping him so much and make him come back and keep proving stuff.
"Tiger Woods is always Tiger Woods. He can't be 100 percent every week, but I'm sure he answered a lot of questions today."
Ask Woods and his answer was as simple as it was sublime.
"It was just a matter of time," the world's No. 1 player said. "... It came together this week."
Only in the days since that eighth-place finish at THE PLAYERS Championship has Woods been able to practice as much as he wanted. Only in the last month or so has that surgically repaired left knee allowed him to swing with ultimate freedom.
And Woods put on a clinic Sunday -- hitting all 14 fairways for the first time since he won at Bay Hill six years ago. In fact, he only missed the short grass seven times all week and his driving accuracy percentage of 87.5 equaled the best of his career.
"The conversation went good shot, good shot, good shot," said Michael Letzig, who got the up-close-and-personal view while paired with Woods on Sunday.
Woods' iron play was extremely sharp, as well. He hit 53 of 72 greens in regulation -- none as precise as the approach at the 72nd hole that stopped 14 inches from the pin and stamped the victory with an exclamation point.
"He's the best," said Matt Bettencourt, the smiling and surprising PGA TOUR rookie who tied for fifth.
When you're the best, though, expectations are lofty, and while Woods won in his third start this season -- after an eight-month layoff, no less -- people expected more. Four other top-10s in stroke play events weren't enough to satisfy them, either.
The man whose records Woods chases so doggedly knows exactly how it feels.
"One year I went eight or nine tournaments, and they said, what's wrong with Nicklaus? He didn't win a major," the Golden Bear recalled. "I finished second in three of them, but I didn't win. So I'm in a slump.
"He goes through the same thing. It's the same thing every time. You just really can't pay much attention to it. You've just got to go about and do what you do. That's what he's been doing, going about and doing what he does."
Even so, after Woods tied for sixth at the Masters, pundits turned an intense practice session into speculation that Charles Barkley might soon be Hank Haney's only high-profile student. But as the world No. 1 was quick to point out "you guys jumped the gun."
"We work great together," Woods said. "And just like he and I understand, I mean, give me a little bit of time. ... It's all speculation. There's no credibility to it.
"That's the thing I just don't understand is that, you know, where's it come from? Just because it makes for a sexy story so people go ahead and say it. That's what's frustrating because I have to live with the ramifications of someone saying that."
No more. Woods has now changed the focus from where he is to where he is going as deftly as he lobs one of those pinpoint wedges onto the green.
First up is the U.S. Open, and if he keeps hitting fairways like he did at Muirfield Village, the white flag of surrender may be flying over the clubhouse at Bethpage Black.
"This is how have to hit it in order to win U.S. Opens," said Woods, who has won three already, including the last one played at New York's premier public facility. "Especially Bethpage. That golf course is as big as they come."
But there is more. A win in the U.S. Open in two weeks would put Woods one step closer to Nicklaus' record of 18 professional majors -- a feat that many, including the Golden Bear himself -- believe to be inevitable.
"It's five to pass him, four to tie him," Woods said. "That's a lot. Most of the guys in my generation haven't won more than three. So it's quite a challenge. There's no doubt about it.
"I probably wouldn't have had as good a chance to put myself in position to tie or pass, whatever it may be, if I hadn't had the surgery. My leg was deteriorating the past couple of years. I'm healthy enough where I think I can give it a go."
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