Woods’ history on course is varied
PEBBLE BEACH — Tiger Woods first played Pebble Beach in the mid-1980s, at age 9 or 10. He made the trip north from Orange County with his dad, Earl, who once vowed he wouldn’t pay $100 or more to play golf anywhere.
“So luckily, it was still under a hundred bucks then,” Woods said Tuesday, smiling, “and we got a chance to play Pebble.”
Woods embraced the thenrare opportunity to navigate the same course on which an annual PGA Tour event was held. And that launched his personal history with the host of this week’s U.S. Open — a more complicated relationship than many people realize.
It’s easy to think “Tiger” and “Pebble” and form visions of utter dominance. He won the 2000 U.S. Open there by an almost unfathomable 15 strokes. Four months earlier, he roared from behind to shoot a final-round 64 and win the AT&T Pro-Am.
Woods’ cumulative score in
six rounds at Pebble Beach in 2000 was 24-under par. His score at Pebble in 10 rounds since then is 7-under.
Put another way: He doesn’t always dominate.
Woods played in the AT&T in each of his first six years as a pro (1997-2002). He finished in the top 15 four times, including the victory in 2000. Then he vanished, frustrated by the sketchy February weather, bumpy poa annua greens and plodding pro-am pace.
He returned in 2012, climbed into contention, shot 75 in the final round — while playing alongside Phil Mickelson, who shot 64 to win — and tumbled off the leaderboard.
So, yes, Pebble Beach suits Woods’ game in some ways. It probably suits him better than Bethpage Black in New York, where he missed the cut at last month’s PGA Championship, but he also hasn’t won eight times at Pebble, as he has at Torrey Pines, Firestone and Bay Hill.
“If I feel good, then I feel like I can play any venue,” Woods said. “It’s just that when I’m stiff and not moving well (as was the case at Bethpage), it becomes a little bit more difficult.
“Now, this week, we’re all going to be playing from virtually the same spots, especially if it dries out. The longer guys will be hitting a shorter club and the shorter guys will be able to sneak driver down there. So it puts a premium on iron play.”
That helps Woods, widely considered one of the best iron players ever. He’s also comfortable putting on poa annua greens, a vexing surface for many tour pros.
Woods proudly recalled not missing any putts inside 10 feet during his romp in the 2000 U.S. Open at Pebble. That’s impressive, no doubt, but he also was 24 then.
He’s 43 now, still a threat but no longer a force of nature.
“It’s not the same body I had back in 2000,” Woods said. “I don’t think any of us have the same body we had 19 years ago. But, athletically, that’s one of the challenges.”
Woods paces himself now, as he showed by choosing to work on the range and putting green Tuesday rather than play a practice round. He showed his personality, joking and laughing with Justin Thomas and other players.
Later, during his news conference, Woods also offered insight he might have hidden in his younger days. He has been through a few tumultuous things in his career, as he reminded us in articulating his reaction to Warriors forward Kevin Durant’s Achilles tendon injury in Game 5 of the NBA Finals.
The question referenced the torn ACL and stress fracture Woods overcame while winning the 2008 U.S. Open, and why athletes are willing to risk significant injury in championship moments.
“It was sad,” Woods said of watching Durant’s injury. “As athletes, we’ve all been there — when you know something just went, and you can’t move or do much of anything. And you could see it on (Durant’s) face, how solemn his face went. …
“I’ve been there. I’ve had it to my own Achilles and my own back. It’s an awful feeling. No one can help you. That’s the hard part. Whether or not he has a procedure, the hardest part is the offseason or the rehab. …
“And why do we do it? Because we’re competitors. As athletes, our job is to make the human body do something it was never meant to do, and do it efficiently and better than anybody who is doing it at the same time. Well, sometimes things go awry. And we saw it with Kevin.”