John Huggan: Woods the wizard in Oz

Published on Saturday 14 November 2009 20:57

FOR THE deluded few still in need of convincing, this week in Melbourne has banished forever any lingering doubts about the peerless pulling power of golf's premier practitioner. In a tournament boasting only two of the best 50 players in the game, a daily dose of 25,000 marauding Australians have in sold-out attendance all-but covered the magnificent Kingston Heath in noisy pursuit of Tiger Woods.

Making his first visit to the land Down Under since the 1998 Presidents Cup, the well-compensated ($3 million, or 1.8m, is his reputed fee) 14-time major champion hasn't let anyone down. On the type of strategically-challenging course rarely seen in professional golf these days the great man has demonstrated, even in these technologically tedious times, that it is possible for pure talent to produce an aesthetically pleasing variety of imaginative and subtle shot-making. This was proper golf at its very best.

More than that, the JBWere Masters has inadvertently been the model for what will hopefully be a more enlightened future of professional golf. Think about it. Each of the four major championships – the Masters, the US Open, the Open and the USPGA – is run by organisations whose best days have been and gone. Or, at least, should be gone. Even worse, three of the four are played in the same country, a gross distortion of a modern golfing world that has never been smaller in terms of travel or more diverse in terms of those participating. It has long been obvious that established golfing nations such as Australia – long starved of live Tiger sightings – deserve more than they currently get. Indeed, any land where there is a huge and largely untapped appetite for golf should take its turn at the top table. At least one of what would be a newly-configured Grand Slam foursome should move around the world, visiting the likes of Oz, South Africa, Japan, Singapore and, soon enough, China, once every five years or so.

For that to happen, of course, a seismic shift in attitudes and assumptions has to take place. Out must go those dinosaurs dozing undisturbed inside all-male clubs and stuffy old institutions out of touch with the 21st century, to be replaced by a new order, one that more appropriately represents a game played by young and old, male and female.

It would be even nicer if the aforementioned Woods – the son of a black American and a Thai mother – would live up to his international background and make positive rather than passive use of his peerless power. Every now and then, it would be nice to see and hear him make a thought-provoking stand on important issues within the sport that has made him rich beyond imagination. But he never does, apparently afraid of upsetting sponsors and alienating potential customers. Which leaves us free to only imagine what Tiger actually feels about, say, clubs and a ball that have all but strangled the game at the highest level. Still, it is hard to be overly critical of the Woods package as a whole. Not only does the best golfer of all time deliver like no other professional ever has on the course – his level of performance and winning percentage are unprecedented – things would actually be a lot worse if his personality happened to be loose-lipped rather than buttoned-up.

It is not difficult, for example, to identify other members of the game's elite – the likes of Sergio Garcia, Anthony Kim and Robert Allenby spring immediately to mind – who would carry golf's torch with a lot less dignity than does Tiger. Loose cannons prone to sloppy and ill-thought-out public utterances would surely serve the wider image of the game even less well than a stuffed shirt who too often takes an enormously frustrating refuge behind financially motivated silence.

Besides, the average punter clearly cares not a whit about whether Tiger provides thoughtful quotes or employs a defensive straight-bat to any and all questions, good or bad, powder-puff or loaded. All they want to see, up close and personal, is the great man doing what he does best, even if the nearest he comes to public acknowledgment of his enormous fan base is asking them to "move back on the right, please".

Which is not to say that some of the media coverage this past week has done Tiger or the Aussie Masters any favours. From the fake geniality of the on-site breakfast television shows, to the often-fawning nature of so much of the newspaper coverage, to the ill-advised presence of former cricketers amidst the commentary team, it has been difficult not to snigger.

Under the heading of "you couldn't make it up," some favourite moments: the lady on the breakfast show who, watching Tiger warm up on the range prior to his opening round, commented that all his practice must mean he is nervous; or her colleague who speculated on why Tiger had shown up at 6.45am when he wasn't off until 7.15. Or the third talking head who wondered whether it would be better to play in front of Tiger or behind him, concluding that in front would be worse because "then he will be watching you."

Finally, comprehensively underscoring the irresistible fact that no one else in golf – with the possible, occasional exception of Phil Mickelson – can "move the dial" as much as Woods, consider that the concurrent Hong Kong Open, with 12 of the world's top-50 in attendance and just about double the prize money, has been played this week in almost total anonymity. Where Kingston Heath has boasted 25,000 spectators, Hong Kong Golf Club has, based on television evidence, made do with about 25. Tiger, sadly, is the game's biggest curse as well as its most prized asset: if he isn't there, no one really cares. Certainly not the happy, smiley lady on Channel Nine. She is probably still worried about Tiger's ability to perform under pressure. The wee soul.

WORLD No1 SHARES LEAD

AN OUT-OF-SORTS Tiger Woods battled to a share of the lead after the third round of the Australian Masters as his rivals failed to capitalise on an off day for the world No 1.

Woods held a three-stroke lead going into the third round and seemed set to charge ahead after draining a monster birdie putt on the second. But that was as good as it got for the 14-times major champion, who said he felt lucky to escape with an even-par 72.

Woods ended the day joint leader with local hopes Greg Chalmers and James Nitties on 10 under par. American Jason Dufner and Australia's Cameron Percy are two further back. "I was very fortunate, somehow I found a way to shoot even par because it certainly should have been a lot worse," said Woods.

At the Hong Kong Open, Frenchman Gregory Bourdy leads on 16 under after a seven-under-par 63. Nothern Ireland's Rory McIlroy is third on 11 under after a 65, boosting his chances of overtaking Lee Westwood at the top of Europe's money list.