Gimpy Woods ready to hoof it
SAN DIEGO — Tiger Woods has yet to walk 18 holes since a surgeon repaired his left knee in April. He hasn’t played a competitive round of golf since Sunday at the Masters. Two weeks ago, he wasn’t sure he could make it through a four-day tournament standing up.
But when the U.S. Open begins at Torrey Pines on Thursday, Woods could tee off as a 2-1 favorite, because the last thing that’s going to stop action from coming in on him is apparently a sore body part that can directly affect the power in one’s swing.
Crazy? Not to anyone breathing.
"It’s like Big Brown," said Sergio Garcia, ranked seventh in the world. "With a (cracked hoof), he was still the favorite."
OK, but where did Big Brown finish?
"We’ll see," Garcia said of Woods.
Words no longer appropriately define the supremacy Woods holds over his contemporaries. It’s like trying to find new ways to describe the dangers of sunbathing without protection. The bucket of adjectives is empty.
In any event Woods enters nowadays, it is routine early in the week for the rest of the field to weigh in with its collective view of his potential dominance. From time to time, someone named Stephen Ames or Rory Sabbatini suggests Woods is vulnerable, then they’re soon matched against him in a pivotal round and get soundly creamed and no one seems to hear much from them again.
The idea of a golfer missing two months of action and returning as a prohibitive favorite to win a major is like asking a soccer team to win Euro 2008 using nine players, unless the golfer is this particular one.
It doesn’t hurt that Woods has won six Buick Invitationals at Torrey Pines, including the last four, that he pretty much treats this place like his own putt-putt course. It doesn’t hurt that Woods has before returned from a lengthy layoff to win here.
It doesn’t hurt to be the guy everyone fears, gimpy knee and all.
"Even though this is considered Tiger’s home course, it’s hard to judge it as just another tournament," said Jay Kornegay, sports book director for the Las Vegas Hilton. "He was so dominant at the beginning of the year, we looked ahead to Torrey Pines back then and thought he’d be less than even money.
"We thought he might be back playing earlier than this, so when you consider he wasn’t and the U.S. Open is a tournament where you could be playing out of 3 to 5 inches of rough and having to muscle up shots with a knee that might not be 100 percent, we had to raise him a little."
You get the point. Phil Mickelson is the clear second choice at 6-1. It’s appropriate, then, that the USGA has paired Woods and Mickelson in the tournament’s first two days. They will form a threesome with Adam Scott, guaranteeing a gallery more congested than morning rush hour on the Spaghetti Bowl. What a perfect idea.
It not only means television for perhaps the first time in history wasn’t the primary reason for such a grouping — ratings have a better chance of remaining consistent when Woods and Mickelson are split between the morning and afternoon rounds — but that Woods’ efficiency for the week could be known quickly.
No one competes harder against himself than Woods, but even the world’s best player isn’t lost on the significance of something so rare occurring. He would be prepared regardless. The pairing just makes the fire burn a tad brighter.
"It’s exciting for fans, exciting for players," he said. "I like it. I haven’t heard one negative thing about it. You usually don’t get pairings like that until maybe Saturday or Sunday. … I haven’t played in a while. So getting out there and dealing with the flow and the adrenaline and the juices flying, all the things guys have been dealing with for a little while and I haven’t.
"(Usually), coming off surgery, you can’t go all out. I’m not very good with that. I like to go all out. It’s all I know. (The knee) is a little sore, but nothing I haven’t dealt with before. I’ll be fine. I’m good to go."
He was as cautious as always in his remarks here Tuesday, at one point sarcastically saying he tends to be a bit guarded (he makes the Queen of England look like Paris Hilton). Nothing at all seemed out of sorts. You know, except for that two-month layoff.
Which really doesn’t seem to bother anyone, from those setting lines to those competing alongside him. Most would still take him against the field.
A prediction: That’s where the Big Brown comparisons end.
Ed Graney’s column is published Sunday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. He can be reached at 702-383-4618 or egraney@reviewjournal.com.
