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AUGUSTA, Georgia: Golf superstar Tiger Woods takes aim at a
fifthMasters crown here this week amid breathless speculation that
it could be the first step toward a once unimaginable Grand Slam.
“I think he’s the only player capable of
doing that,” American Steve Stricker said Monday as the world’s
best golfers began their preparations for the first major
championship of 2008.
Woods has held all four major titles at once,
when he added the 2001 Masters title to the US Open, British Open
and PGA Championship crowns he had won the year before.
But no golfer has swept the modern majors in a
single year.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if he does do
it,” Stricker said. “The odds are not in his favor. I think
he’s got a good chance of doing it, and I don’t think they are
in his favor—if that makes sense.”
Stricker’s dilemma in assessing Woods’s
chances reflected two opposing forces at play in a Grand Slam bid—Woods’s
undeniable ability against the myriad mischance that can befall any
golfer.
“There’s a lot of factors that go into
winning a golf tournament,” Stricker said. “He knows that, too.
You’ve got to get your breaks, and he realizes he gets some breaks
along the way, and you have to have that to win golf tournaments.
“Especially going over to the British Open,
you could get on the wrong side of a draw over there and be 10 shots
back in a hurry.”
Stricker said Woods was more than entitled to
his status as overwhelming favorite to win a fifth Masters title
this week.
“As a player, it is what it is,” he said of
the pre-tournament Tiger buzz. “You realize that he’s the guy to
beat. If he plays well, no one is going to beat him. I’ve seen him
enough lately that if he’s on his game, he’s impossible to
beat.”
With 64 PGA Tour victories Woods trails only Sam
Snead (82) and Jack Nicklaus (73). He is only five major titles shy
of Nicklaus’s record of 18.
The 32-year-old world’s number one has won 16
of his last 27 starts and seven of his last nine.
The 2008 major championship venues also appear
to suit him. He is a four-time winner at Augusta, and has won six
Buick Invitational titles at Torrey Pines in San Diego, host of the
US Open. When the British Open was last played at Royal Birkdale,
Woods was one stroke out of the playoff.
As it is every year, the Masters is the first
necessary step.
Woods played his first practice round at Augusta
aon Sunday with old buddy Mark O’Meara, the 1998 Masters Champion.
-- AFP
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