Vancouver Province
for July 14, 2000

PLEASE NOTE: RAFE'S JULY 7, 2000 ARTICLE FOR THE PROVINCE WAS NOT PRINTED, AS THE NEWSPAPER WAS AFRAID OF LIABLE OVER THE ASPERTAME ARTICLE. IT CAN BE FOUND IN WRITTEN WORD FOR JULY 9, 2000

Eldrick "Tiger Woods" did not win the US Open by 15 shots when I was away. I know I was told by a reliable source in England – while staying in a hotel that unhappily didn't have SkySports available - that young Tiger had done this but of course it wasn't true. And I've seen TV replays that purport to show the second place finisher, Ernie Els, at three over par, congratulating Woods who, it is alleged, was 12 under par. This didn't happen because it is impossible for such to take place

The United States Open is the main title in the four tournaments that make up the so-called "majors" although the British Open is the most venerable and has a cachet unto itself. But the US Open is the big one. It attracts the very best field each year and despite the rather ungracious remarks by Jack Nicklaus, about which more in a moment, this was the best field that has ever played in a tournament. Ever. Of that there can be no doubt. Moreover it was played on what is perhaps the best golf course in the world - it certainly makes everyone's top five - and a course which has everything including lots of very unsettled weather. So you can readily see what a hoax has been played upon us by those who tell us that the only man under par was Tiger Woods and that he won by 15 shots. I must also tell you that the rumour that the same Woods won the Masters a few years back by 12 strokes is also part of this golfing world and general media hype. Again, that didn't happen because it could not happen. Impossible - win two majors by a combined 27 shots over the field? Only an idiot would suggest such a thing!

Jack Nicklaus, after this year's Open, said that the competition was better in his day ... after all there was Gary Player, Lee Trevino and, of course Arnie. But Jack is a grumpy old man and grumpy old men always say this sort of thing. And it’s barnyard droppings. The reason that there are so few multiple majors winners today compared to Nicklaus' day is because golf is indeed better now. There were great players in Nicklaus' day to be sure and none greater than Nicklaus himself whose record number of majors may never be reached. But to pretend that the tour in the sixties was anywhere near the quality of the tour today makes as much sense as saying that baseball, hockey, football, basketball, track and field and so on haven't improved. They have. Big time. Athletes are bigger, faster and better trained. Tiger Woods works out two hours a day and does so in such a way as to enhance the muscles he needs for golf. The day after he didn't win the Open by 15 shots he toured Pebble Beach again - except he ran around it.

Nicklaus didn't train like that - Gary Player did but he was an exception to the rule that fitness wasn't high on the list of requirements for major league golf. Not only are there more and better golfers around today, the international scene is different. Where in Nicklaus' time the odd European came over and won, now the European tour itself is close to the American tour in quality. Europe often beats the US in Ryder Cup play ... the overall point being that golf around the world is at a much higher level than it was when the Bear was winning.

This takes nothing from Jack Nicklaus. All you can ever be is the best of your time and Jack Nicklaus was clearly that.

Now we see Tiger Woods about to become richer than Michael Jordan ... and let me digress to say would even the most devout Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain etc fan not admit that Jordan was head and shoulder the best player in basketball history? But Tiger is, in his 25th year, with by far his best paying days to come, about to be a billionaire. He even gets $2 million a year from the people who performed laser surgery on his eyes!

In the unlikely event that irrefutable evidence ever does prove that Tiger Woods won the US Open by 15 shots, he's worth every penny.