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AUGUSTA, Georgia: Tiger Woods’s quest for a Grand
Slam begins—or ends—next week at Augusta National Golf Club.
With a victory in the Masters,
the first major championship of the season, the superstar could set
himself up for a run at golf’s holy grail: victories in all four
major championships in one year.
Woods has already completed the
so-called “Tiger Slam” of four major triumphs in a row, ending
with his 2001 Masters victory.
With the swing changes he has
painstakingly made in recent years now paying dividends, and with
the benefit of experience garnered in 13 major triumphs, the
32-year-old American has spoken confidently of the possibility of
achieving the elusive Grand Slam in 2008.
“For most of my career, I’ve
won more than four tournaments in a year,” Woods said. “It’s
just winning the right four.”
Woods is a proven winner at
Augusta, where his four titles tie him with Arnold Palmer for second
in career victories, two behind Jack Nicklaus.
Woods’s most recent start, at
the World Golf Championships CA Championship at Doral last month,
saw his streak of seven straight global victories come to an end.
That defeat did nothing to dent
his status as the overwhelming favorite to win the Masters and make
further inroads on Nicklaus’s record of 18 major triumphs.
“You don’t really get
remembered for number of wins in a career,” Woods says. “It’s
the number of wins in major championships. Those are the biggest
events. If you win one major a year, it turns a good year into a
great year.”
--AFP
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