Dick Francis, the prolific novelist and former jockey, flew bombers during World War II. He later became an accomplished steeplechase rider, both, obviously, dangerous business. He broke so many bones riding he lost count. He was once asked hadn't he been scared either on bombing runs or in the saddle, where he estimated, a fall at 30 mph could be expected every third or fourth mount.

"I never thought about it," he said. "If you can do the job, fear simply doesn't enter into it."

That's the difference. There's why Tiger is winning majors and Duval and Mickelson (and Love, to name a few) are not. Tiger needs no convincing that he can do the job. The others have yet to fully persuade the one person they must to win: themselves. Phil Mickelson put it neatly enough: "He [Tiger] simply does what is required."

Fear, doubt, even the slightest indecision, are the bane of the champion golfer. They are simply not a part of the mix with Tiger. You can read it on their faces. The conversations they are having with themselves are not the same conversations Tiger is holding with himself.

Annika Sorenstam, no stranger to such marvelous focus, watched and can relate. "You could tell how Tiger was always there," she says. "He was aware of his surroundings. He was always in the moment when he hit the shot and after that he didn't really look like he was there." The ability to turn it on and off between shots, over four days five hours straight.

"When you can do the job, fear simply doesn't enter into it."

Both Mickelson and Duval played superlatively. In other years, their totals of 274 and 275 would've been good enough to win. Phil Mickelson didn't have a round above 70. David Duval shot a 67 on Sunday and gave himself ample opportunities. But Mickelson made four bogeys on Sunday and Duval's doubt on the greens was sufficient to deny him a green jacket. But these are X's and O's. The tournament was Tiger's and he answered the bell.

Walk down the line at any PGA Tour event. Each man can hit the shots. They all have the skills. Good bounces follow good shots and luck evens out over the course of 72 separate trials. The difference is preparation, patience, confidence, attitude, trust. Tiger waited eight months to demonstrate his dominance, and it is not an overstatement to say, at 25, the prime years of demonstrating his powers of intelligence and focus lie ahead.

His preparation is both methodical and practical. The sweeping drive he hit on 13, he said, he'd been working on for months. He implicitly trusts his ability. He trusts his reads. David Duval knew he had a straight birdie putt on 13, where he'd hit the green in two. He should've made the statutory birdie there. He knew the birdie putt was straight, just as it was on the 18th green. He knew, but he didn't believe what he saw. He didn't trust his instinct. Fear is at the heart of indecision and indecision cost him dearly. That is what separates Tiger from his pursuers. "If you can do the job, fear simply doesn't enter into it." Not with Tiger it doesn't.

Sid Matthew, who you will encounter in this issue, might also credit a minor contributing outbreak that he calls "Tigeritis," or, in its first incarnation, "Jonesitis," the pressure of running up against a wall named Bobby Jones or Tiger Woods.

Step back from Tiger's technical mastery, including a record number of greens in regulation. Has there ever been a golfer so thoroughly prepared for the demands of the champion outside the ropes? Who among Tiger's young contemporaries is as well prepared to handle the demands that can so quickly get beneath the skin and sour the joy from the game? Perhaps that person has just completed his junior year in high school.

In hindsight Tiger's most amazing feat may not have been the gritty par saving putt on 10, nor the superlative approach leading to a tremendous birdie on 11. And it was not the emphatic birdie slam on the final hole, lovely coda to the week as it was.

No. The swing he pulled back on after throwing the switch on the 15th tee was the most remarkable. That someone could be so focused and so fully in the throes of generating swing speeds that routinely propel a ball 300 plus yards and still stop his swing, to, as Bill Lyon of the Philadelphia Inquirer wrote, grab the bullet back after the trigger had been pulled - the swing on the way down - is simply unbelievable. This reveals a phenomenal, magnificent discipline.

All that's left to decide, as we await the U.S. Open, is whether Tiger gets a parade through the Canyon of Heroes on Broadway. That is, does he get it now or later?

Finally, lest we take it for granted, isn't it nice that Tiger gets IT. He relishes the victories but he knows where he stands, not just next to his contemporaries, but against the modern era's gold standard. He is astutely, perhaps even obsessively, aware of Jack Nicklaus's accomplishments. Growing up, the young Nicklaus heard all about Bob Jones from his dad, not just about his wins but about his character and demeanor. Tiger knows what is expected of him. Jack might not have thrown the Vesuvian blinks Tiger can't hold back, but as he strives for Jack's record he continues a pleasing thread that goes back through the years. It connects champions noted not just for their remarkable prowess but also for their sportsmanship, their mien, even in the heat of battle.

No doubt Tiger will have to reinvent himself along the way. He will face crises and personal hardships on and off the golf course, just as Jones and Nelson and Nicklaus did. But no one can deny that Tiger Woods is not only a splendid athlete and champion but a tremendous ambassador for golf, and uniformly good for the game.

Thank you to Links magazine for highlighting The Hearthstone Review as a 'Hot Link' in their April 2001 issue.

Regards,

Jim Apfelbaum
Flying Rib Ranch
April 19, 2001

Swing Thoughts - Volume I
Swing Thoughts - Volume II
Swing Thoughts - Volume III
Swing Thoughts - Volume IV
Swing Thoughts - Volume V
Swing Thoughts - Volume VI
Swing Thoughts - Volume VII
Swing Thoughts - Volume VIII
Swing Thoughts - Volume IX