Competitive fire is still burning in Woods
SAN DIEGO — Tiger Woods was posing for pictures with a trophy Wednesday at Torrey Pines, and the tournament had not even started.
He has made winning look routine, particularly on this public course along Pacific Bluffs where he already has won eight times as a pro, including a U.S. Open.
The trophy Woods received on the eve of his title defence at the Farmers Insurance Open was for being voted PGA Tour player of the year for the 11th time.
Woods doesn’t take winning for granted, even if others don’t appreciate how difficult it is. That includes his daughter. Woods told a story of 6-yearold Sam being curious about the Torrey pine on the trophy, which reminded his daughter of the Bonsai tree she had seen in Karate Kid.
“She thought that’s what it was,” Woods said. “I said, ‘No, they’re a little bit bigger than that.’ I had to go online and show her the pictures and everything. I had all these trophies lined up and she said, ‘You need to get one of those.’ ”
Woods tried to explain that it wasn’t that simple, that he had to play better golf than 155 other guys to earn it.
“She said, ‘OK, go do it,’ ” he said.
And so he did. Woods had an eight-shot lead on the back nine before the final round in a fog-delayed tournament was so backed up that it took forever to finish and Woods lost patience.
He won by four shots, and then surprised tournament officials when he wanted to take the trophy home on the plane. He did not want to walk in the door as the winner at Torrey Pines without that trophy.
“They put it literally in the middle of the living room,” Woods said. “Everybody was dancing around the trophy.”
The music cranks back up on Thursday — another dance, his 19th year as a pro.
Woods conceded there are things he can’t do at 38 that he could when he was 24, such as produce the same speed when he rotates through the ball. But he’s also stronger and a lot smarter in dissecting a golf course. “You’re still able to be successful, but you do it a different way,” Woods said. “You evolve as you age, and I think I’ve done that so far.”