Legend has it that, at the Dubai Classic two years ago, while playing a practice round, the world’s top golfers were boasting among themselves about their prowess and taunting each other about the eventual victor.
World number one Tiger Woods was not billed to play, so it was open season for all the players to claim they could bag one of the richest tournaments on the golf tour.
But, we are told, it was during this practice round that — for some strange reason — Woods’s private jet was spotted flying over the manicured fairways towards the private airstrip. The brown stuff hit the fan, and they all felt their stomachs turn. The rest, as they say, is history.
Last weekend, Rory Sabbatini repeated that same mistake.
After shooting a record-equalling 64 at the Wachovia Championship in the third round and topping the leader board before the final day on Sunday to face off with Woods, Sabbatini, who moved to world number 17 after a decent effort last week, made headlines for the wrong reasons. He spoke.
”Some people said Tiger had withdrawn [on the last day of the Nissan Open last year] because he was sick. He is here this week — the best opportunity I have had to put any of that criticism or doubt aside. I am looking forward to it,” Sabbatini said on Saturday, obviously buoyed by a great round and relishing the attention and media coverage.
On Sunday, Woods had emerged the victor
Sabbatini had a chance. This despite the unbelievable fear and terror that Woods injects into the entire PGA Tour whenever he starts the final day in the last group. It appears players would rather shoot badly and start earlier than be paired with the hungriest, meanest, deadliest and most talented player on tour. Woods is unbeatable on the last day. Sabbatini should have hoped for another flu bug to floor Woods.
But Sabbatini defied the rule. He spoke, and spoke harshly. And a few hours after his impressive round, he was on the first tee on the North Carolina course on Sunday against the red-shirted one.
To cut a long story short, the 12-time Major champion won his ninth event in his last 12 starts on the PGA Tour. Sabbatini did not finish second. He finished joint third with world number three Phil Mickelson. And that’s after battling a round of 74.
Sheepishly, Sabbatini retreated to his lair after realising his mistake, ”He [Woods] got the job done today [Sunday] and I didn’t, and next time maybe I will.”
Sabbatini claims he doesn’t have regrets and says he wants Woods ”every week”. He can’t be serious.
Even under the unfavourable conditions that Sabbatini blamed for his dismal final round, Woods whipped his ass. Woods had a sore knee on the final day, missed one fairway after another, overcame a double-bogey on the 13th, but still won by a comfortable two strokes from Steve Stricker to top the Fedex Cup Money list for the first time this year.
This week, the 31-year-old father-to-be joins another big bill of 49 of the top 50 players battling it out for the PGA Tour’s Players Championship, which kicked off on Thursday on the Stadium Course at the Sawgrass.
Proclaimed the world’s ”fifth Major”, the Players Championship is about to have the best audience ever for three good reasons: it has just had a $60-million makeover; the best of the PGA Tour players will be gunning for the $1,4-million winner’s loot; and, of course, the incomparable Tiger Woods.
The tournament date was switched from late March to early May, a decision many players are excited about because, unlike its usual condition, this course will be firm, favouring hard and long hitters — meaning all players on the card, really.
Woods has won the championship only once, in 2001 — one of the very few PGA Tour events he has not won more than once. There is no doubt who the punters think will punch the air at the end of Sunday to collect the cheque, the cup, his second championship and his fourth event win out of seven this year.
World number two Jim Furyk, the one with the funniest yet most successful swing on tour, said: ”I think it [the Stadium Course] favours no one in particular — more now than it ever did.”
In fairness, Furyk did not say anything about Woods, not directly at least. So maybe, just maybe, Woods would have no point to prove against him this week.
But Woods will have two points to prove, though.
He will need to convince everyone that he can control his game and win his games rather than succeed on the back of a faltering field as Sabbatini, Stricker and Vijay Singh did on Sunday. Secondly, Woods would want to win the Championship again so he won’t have to relive the horror of not repeating the feat six years ago. But Tiger Woods also just likes winning.
He may be driving carelessly and, sometimes, dangerously. He has had few bogey-free rounds this season. But he remains the one player with the best ability to recover from near disaster. And his putter is red hot.
”Most of the shots I hit [at the Wachovia] were pretty good, but I did hit a couple wide. You just cannot do that at the Players. The mounding there is so severe,” said Woods.
Furyk may be right, the Stadium Course will not favour anyone, but one thing is clear: Woods may just favour the course — and that may cause more upset stomachs come Sunday.