Bill Elliott: Golf
Perhaps the greatest pleasure available to=20 those of us addicted to professional golf=20 is the opportunity to watch a great player=20 performing at his peak. The merely good=20 athlete will impress, but the truly gifted=20 can lift the spectator’s spirit, free the=20 imagination and allow all things suddenly=20 to seem possible. It is on the wings of=20 their ambition and vision that the rest of=20 us can take our own flights of fancy and=20 perhaps even end up somewhere over the=20 moon.
Each generation have its own quota of great=20 sportsmen, but quite what it is that=20 distinguishes the outstanding from the=20 competent remains blurred. Watch a line of=20 golfers practising for an Open championship=20 and, reputation or shirt sponsor apart, it=20 is difficult to distinguish one from the=20 other.
It is only when these same players enter=20 course of action that the difference=20 suddenly jumps up and bites one on the=20 ankle. As the pressure screw turns over the=20 four rounds of a major championship it is=20 the men with deep self-belief who move=20 relentlessly ahead of the pack. In golf it=20 is not enough to hope you can beat the=20 rest, you have to believe that on your day=20 you will elbow them all aside. Natural=20 arrogance always has been an advantage.
The other prerequisite in golf is that a=20 chap must win a major if he is to be=20 considered even briefly as worthy of being=20 listed among the greats. So Colin=20 Montgomerie, despite a glittering record,=20 cannot be admitted yet into anyone’s Hall=20 of Fame. Until he breaks through the tape=20 at a Masters, a US or British Open or at=20 the US PGA, Monty will always be more than=20 merely good but never more than terrific.
When Davis Love III – who on earth were=20 Loves I and II? – won the US PGA recently,=20 he placed at least one foot on the right=20 side of this arbitrary line. Indeed, as a=20 result of this win Love can lay legitimate=20 claim to being acclaimed golfer of the year=20 despite the towering presence of Tiger=20 Woods. Woods in the Masters, Ernie Els in=20 the US Open and Justin Leonard in the=20 British Open, are the year’s other major=20 men, but swift analysis of performances in=20 these four events highlight Love’s=20 consistent involvement at the sharp end of=20 the game.
The tall American was seventh at Augusta,=20 16th in the US Open and 10th at Troon,=20 before finally making his big move in New=20 York. This gives him an average finish of=20 eighth in this year’s four majors, which in=20 turn places him a comfortable 10 places=20 better than Woods, who far from winning the=20 Grand Slam, has played progressively worse=20 as the season has gone on. Leonard, second=20 in the US PGA, averaged 11th place while=20 Els’s disappointing 53rd at Winged Foot=20 pushed him to the back of the quartet on=20 20th.
While Leonard’s uncanny ability to coax his=20 ball into the hole on any green and Els’s=20 nonchalant attitude suggest that these two=20 at least will win majors again, it is Woods=20 who is popularly supposed to be the next=20 great player in waiting. But while the=20 young man began the year stoking up his own=20 hype with much talk about “pulling off The=20 Slam”, he ended it rather chastened.=20 Ignorance can be bliss as far as golf is=20 concerned and Tiger will never be as naive=20 again. “Realistically, I now think it’s=20 next to impossible to win all four in the=20 same year,” he admits. “Majors test every=20 facet of your game, but more importantly=20 they test your mind.”
This is hardly news, but the fact that=20 Woods felt inclined to point it out at all=20 shows just how steep is his present=20 learning curve. Meanwhile each of these=20 pretenders has to be compared to the=20 players who are acknowledged as the=20 greatest of all time.
Recently I asked Lee Trevino, winner of two=20 US Opens, two BritishOpens and two US PGA=20 titles, who he regarded as great: “First,=20 let me tell you that great is a word used=20 too loosely. A guy wins a couple of=20 tournaments and suddenly he’s called great.
“C’mon! I’ll tell you who the great golfers=20 are: Jack Nicklaus is the greatest player=20 ever to lace a pair of shoes. No doubt=20 about that, no doubt at all. I don’t care=20 how far back you want to go, Jack is the=20 best ever. Then I’d throw in Nelson,=20 Sarazen, Hogan, Jones and, of course,=20 Arnold Palmer.”
“Tom Watson is right in there and Faldo=20 will get there. See, those two ain’t=20 finished yet and I don’t like to include=20 anyone whose major career isn’t over. The=20 same goes for this year’s winners. We got=20 to wait to see. Sure Tiger looks terrific,=20 but until he’s finished we won’t know=20 whether or not he’s great. The greats are=20 in the game for the long haul.”
While Nicklaus’s career suggests all the=20 reliability and longevity of one of those=20 Mercedes diesels, he began like a Ferrari=20 leaping away from the traffic lights. After=20 turning professional in 1961, his first=20 victory came six months later in the US=20 Open. Fourteen months after that he had=20 added the Masters and the US PGA and by=20 1966 he had taken the British Open as well.=20 His final, and 18th, major victory, came at=20 Augusta in 1986, placing him a light year=20 ahead of any rival.
It is this record that now challenges=20 Woods, Els, Leonard and Love. Just as it=20 once danced in the mind of Seve=20 Ballesteros. After he had won his fourth=20 major title at St Andrews in 1984,=20 Ballesteros admitted that he was determined=20 to exceed Nicklaus’s achievements.
“I can do it. I am young, I have the game=20 and I have the ambition,” he said. Now 40=20 years old, with his game as tattered as his=20 lower spine, Ballesteros can look back on a=20 total of five major wins.
That the Spaniard was a great golfer is=20 beyond doubt, but there is much a man must=20 overcome in his life if he is to get even=20 close to Nicklaus. It is doubtful that=20 Messrs Woods, Els, Leonard and Love will=20 manage to even cumulatively beat the great=20 man’s major record, but at least it will be=20 fun watching the new guys have even a minor=20 bash at it.