PO‘IPU — For Tiger Woods, the Garden Isle is paradise in more ways than one. In seven visits to the Poipu Bay Golf Course, Woods has made the PGA Grand Slam of Golf his personal playground. Including last year’s seven-shot
PO‘IPU — For Tiger Woods, the Garden Isle is paradise in more ways than one. In seven visits to the Poipu Bay Golf Course, Woods has made the PGA Grand Slam of Golf his personal playground.
Including last year’s seven-shot victory, Woods is five for seven at Poipu Bay, playing the course’s four par-5s in 37-under-par and earning $2.65 million along the way. So it’s little surprise the world’s No. 1 and this year’s PGA Player of the Year is the overwhelming favorite to repeat as Grand Slam champion.
In an informal poll of the nation’s golf media conducted by the PGA, Woods garnered eight of the 14 votes, equally a testament to his sizzling play over the second half of the season as his dominance on Kaua‘i’s South Shore.
In his 10 rounds at Po‘ipu Bay, Woods has a stroke average of 66.5, with eight eagles, 76 birdies and 142 pars. He has scored worse than par only 18 times in 180 holes — that’s 10 percent of the time, or less than twice a round.
Jim Furyk, the 2003 Grand Slam champion, earned four votes, while U.S. Open champion Geoff Ogilvy was selected twice. Mike Weir was shut out.
The explanations for selecting Woods ran from the pragmatic to the logical to the whimsical to the defensive.
“Has he ever lost there?” Oakland Tribune golf writer and columnist Art Spander said in a PGA release.
“Does he need an explanation?” Jerry Potter of USA Today said. “How about the best golfer on the planet, having one of his best seasons, playing an event he has won before against guys he beats all the time?”
“He’s in a zone where no one else on the planet can compete with him,” said Jill Painter of the Los Angeles Daily News.
“It would be folly to bet against Tiger, even in an off-season event,” said Garry Smits of the Florida Times-Union. “Once he tees it up, his instincts don’t know it doesn’t count.”
“He looks like he’ll keep winning pretty much everything again until he grows bored and changes his swing yet again, perhaps as a left-hander next time,” said Randy Mell of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
Ron Kroichick of the San Francisco Chronicle was considerably more direct.
“This is golf, his name is Tiger and I’m tired of looking like an idiot every time I pick a player not named Tiger,” Kroichick said.
Furyk’s four votes came largely on the basis of his home in Maui, giving him a “home-state/home-course” advantage, according to Gary Van Sickle of Sports Illustrated.
“I like Jim Furyk for two reasons: He has momentum coming off the best season of his career, plus he has homefield advantage,” said Bill Nichols of the Dallas Morning News.
“Tiger’s better, but I suppose Furyk cares more about winning this than Mr. Woods,” said the Toronto Star’s Jim Byers.
While Furyk and Weir finished one-two in the 2003 Grand Slam, this is Ogilvy’s first visit to the season-ending showcase of major championship winners. That played into the Winnipeg Free Press’ Tim Campbell’s selection.
“It’s his first time, right, so he’ll clearly be trying the hardest,” Campbell said.
Campbell’s fellow Canadian, Ian Hutchinson of the Toronto Sun, took that logic one step further.
“I’ll go with Geoff Ogilvy because a longshot is always fun and in a field that includes Tiger, Furyk and Weir, Ogilvy probably won’t get the attention he deserves and his talents make him worthy of attention,” he said. “I think he could be a sneak-in winner.”
The $1.25 million Grand Slam comes to Kaua‘i for the 13th consecutive year, and the 14th overall, in the events 24-year history.
Coverage begins on TNT Tuesday at 2 p.m. HST and continues Wednesday at 1 p.m.
TNT’s popular sports guru Ernie Johnson will return to anchor the network’s coverage, joined by analysts Bobby Clampett and Billy Kratzert and reporter Jim Huber.
As in the past, TNT will air sound bytes from all four golfers, who will wear microphones during play.
Tickets are still available at (800) PGA-GOLF (742-4653).
