Wednesday, August 14, 2002
Can Woods, Garcia recreate magic of Medinah?
The Associated Press
CHASKA, Minn. — Three summers ago, one of golf's greatest weekends unexpectedly produced a rivalry so colorful and full of youthful charisma that it promised to carry the sport well into the new century.
Even now, a dozen major championships later, that history-shaping showdown is remembered as the time when golf's biggest star came of age and another star — one not even of age — was born.
Sergio Garcia, an impetuous teenager of 19, did everything possible to wrest the PGA Championship from Tiger Woods, the Masters winner two years before at 21 who had yet to win another major.
Garcia sprinted down Medinah's fairways to watch the flight of his shots, bounced in the air as if trampoline-propelled, waggled his hips countless times and wiggled his finger toward Tiger as if to say, “Hey, bring it on.”
Bring it on, indeed.
Visibly energized by the challenge from someone so talented, so fearless and so much younger than himself, Woods held off Garcia by one stroke to win his second major, and he's been winning ever since. He's won seven of the last 12 majors going into this week's PGA, despite losing his chance at the Grand Slam by faltering in last month's British Open.
Now, with a setting much like that of the '99 PGA, could this be the week when Woods, trying to become the first to sweep the American majors (Masters, U.S. Open, PGA) in the same year, and Garcia revive the magic of Medinah?
Maybe it's the return of golf's most competitive tournament — 99 of the world's top 100 are entered — to the Midwest. Or the remarkable resemblance between Medinah and Minnesota's Hazeltine National Golf Club. Or maybe it's that Woods has won two of this year's three majors, and Garcia has been right there with him, placing in the top 10 in all three.
“There's no doubt he's a great player; if not the best there's ever been, he's close to it,” Garcia said Tuesday. “But I know my chances out there. I know what I can do. I know that if I'm playing well and I'm doing what I can do, I can beat him.”
That hasn't happened yet in a major. Garcia was down only two strokes to Woods early in the final round of the U.S. Open at Bethpage Black, but faded to fourth. At the British Open, Woods capsized in the wind, rain and cold of Muirfield with a pro career-worst 81 that left him out of contention as Ernie Els won his third major in a playoff a day later.
Now, back home on a long course seemingly suited to his game, Woods looked very much at ease while playing his first practice round of the week Tuesday at Hazeltine. It was almost as if he couldn't wait to get out there, starting so early — right after sunrise — that fans couldn't join him on the course for nearly an hour.
Once the gates opened, the early arrivals raced frantically from hole to hole looking for him. After finding him, the gallery quickly swelled from 500 to 5,000 to thousands more still over the next hour.
At the same time, Woods was making a discovery of his own: a golf course that very much resembles Medinah, and that means a course that very much favors him.
“Some of the looks, some of the shapes, some of the holes, it looks very similar,” Woods said. “Hopefully I can use the same feeling I had then this week.”
With its towering maple trees and vast expanses of waterside real estate, Hazeltine keeps getting compared to Medinah, and not just by Woods.
“It seems to have a lot of the same feel as Medinah, to me,” Phil Mickelson said.
David Duval had a similar reaction, saying, “All the holes flow together well, with the exception of No. 16 along the lake. That one stands out a little bit, it stands alone.”
Hazeltine's signature hole — Woods referred to it as such — the 402-yard, par-4 16th requires a tee shot across Hazeltine Lake to a fairway flanked by water, followed by an approach to a peninsula green.
It's almost as if, after playing 15 holes on a course unmistakably built for the Minnesota prairie, the entire field takes a wrong turn and winds up — surprise! — smack dab in the middle of Florida.
“It's going to be the one that everyone is going to probably remember,” Woods said.
Now, will the PGA be one to remember, too?
“Obviously, there's one guy out here everybody is going to be looking for, and he just won last week (at the Buick Open),” Thomas Bjorn said, referring, of course, to Woods. “I think we saw at the British Open that if you go out and play your game and he doesn't play his best game, well, you've got to be there to take the chance. He goes into any tournament as a big favorite.”
The Grand Slam is gone for Woods, but the incentive for winning the PGA is not. It's a major and, after winning six more of them since Medinah, Woods has proven repeatedly what playing in majors means to him.
“I take the same focus, the same approach to each and every major championship, and that is to get my game mentally and physically ready for this one week,” Woods said. “It's the last major of the year, and you always want to end it on a good note.”
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Can Woods, Garcia recreate magic of Medinah?
