Tiger Woods, a golf legend at twenty-nine!

In a sport that is lily white, Tiger Woods is "Cablanasian" (Tiger -- coined acronym for his heritage: his father Earl Woods is black with Caucasian and Native American blood; his mother, Kultida, is Asian (Thai.)) Earl Woods named his only son "Tiger" after a Vietnamese friend. Exactly nine years ago, The New York Times chastised Woods, then a 20-year old sophomore at Stanford University, who had won three Junior Amateur US Opens and three Amateur US Opens, for not turning pro. In August 1996, Woods turned pro and opened his first press conference at Milwaukee with, "Hello, world!" The golf world has not been the same since.

Experts predicted that Woods would take at least two years to win his first tournament on the pro circuit. Woods won two tournaments within two months! Then in April 1997, in golf's first major, The Masters at Augusta, Georgia, Woods won by twelve strokes, breaking Jack Nicklaus's record for the lowest under par score (1965). Tiger Woods did not win another major until the PGA championship of 1999. In the intervening 28 months, he retooled his swing. For the uninitiated, it appeared ludicrous that someone who had won the prestigious Masters tournament in such a runaway would not be happy with his swing. Woods believed that not enough of his club face was making contact with the ball, with the potential to make his drives wayward. As he revamped his swing under the tutelage of Butch Harmon, Woods won only one minor tournament and no major in 1998. He remained winless in 10 majors in a row, dating back to his first.

By early 1999, the fruits of his new swing were in evidence -- he won eight tournaments that year including the last major, the PGA at Medinah, near Chicago. The year 2000 will go down in history as the greatest year in golf by any player. Woods won nine tournaments. After a horrendous first round, Woods failed to win the 2000 Masters, which was very deservedly won by Fijian Vijay Singh. Then Woods took off and won the next three majors. Woods decimated the field at the US Open at Pebble Beach, California and won by an unprecedented 15 strokes! Next, he won the British Open at the home of golf, Scotland's St. Andrews, by eight strokes, thus completing the career Grand Slam at the tender age of 24! In August 2000, he out-dueled Bob May to win the PGA Championship for his third major in a row. Woods won his fourth major in a row, the 2001 Masters, thus completing what is known as "Tiger Slam." No one in the history of golf had held all four major titles at the same time.

Woods won the first two majors of 2002 -- the Masters and the U. S. Open at Bethpage, Long Island, New York. With his victory at Bethpage, Woods had won seven of the previous 11 majors. The rest of the pro golfers became despondent. Major winner Davis Love III openly said that when Tiger starts well, the rest of the field plays for second. Providentially for the rest of the field, Tiger once again was unhappy with his swing. This time he enlisted the assistance of a new swing coach, Hank Haney, to redesign his swing again with the much hotter Nike driver, in order to drive the ball straighter and further. Once again, he would go winless for 10 straight majors, from Bethpage's US Open in June 2002 to Masters, April 2005. In the intervening period the critics were mercilessly critical of Woods' unending tinkering with his swing. Even Butch Harmon, Woods' previous swing coach, criticised Woods openly after the US Open in June 2004, a criticism echoed by the writer in the pages of The Daily Star last year. As Woods reconstructed his swing, Vijay Singh, who had a sensational year in 2004, replaced Woods as the world's number one player for a few months.

Once again Woods confounded his critics. With his new swing, this year he won his fourth Masters and finished second at the US Open to Maori New Zealander Michael Campbell, a tournament Woods would have won with half decent putting. In July, Woods completed his second career Grand Slam by winning by five strokes his second British Open, also held at St. Andrews. That was Woods' 10th victory in the majors; only Walter Hagan (11) and Jack Nicklaus (18) remain ahead of him.

This year's final major was held in the Baltusrol Golf course, in Springfield, New Jersey, forty miles from the writer's residence. The writer's two sons were fortunate enough to get jobs as volunteers at the major tournament (August 8 - August 14). The first morning, the writer received a call from his very excited younger son very early in the morning: "Tiger Woods just passed 10 feet in front of us!" (Woods practices at dawn.) My sons followed Tiger Woods' practice for full 18 holes on Tuesday and beseeched Woods for his autograph on the Baltusrol Flag by shouting, "I got up at four in the morning for you, Tiger!" Woods follows strict rules; autographs only before and after his rounds, not during it. Fortunately, my sons got every other top players' signatures, including that of the second-ranked player in the world, Vijay Singh. On the final day (Sunday), for all 18 holes they followed Woods and his entourage which always includes his mother ("wears very bright colours," my sons observed) and his Swedish wife, Elin. Woods always wears a red T-shirt during the final round on Sunday. When my younger son found Elin and the entourage also wearing red, he asked Elin whether the red colour they were wearing was to show support for Woods. She said, "Yes." Woods' caddie, New Zealander Stevie Williams' parents were also in the entourage following Woods. Occasionally, Williams came to enquire after them. On occasions when Woods came to the entourage for a drink, my sons noticed that he appeared to be in a trance and never looked at anyone!

At Baltusrol (par 70 course), Woods shot himself out of the contention with an error-filled 75 in Thursday's first round, which made every other top player relax and play well. With errant putting, Woods barely made the two round cut, on the number, on Friday. Still, although struggling with his putting, with his characteristic charge on Saturday and Sunday, Woods finished tied for 4th. Phil Mickelson deservedly won the PGA Championship for his second major. Nevertheless, with two wins (Masters and British Open), a second place finish (US Open) and a tie for 4th in PGA Championship, Woods came within four strokes of winning golf's Grand Slam in the same year. Last week, he won the NEC Invitational for his 5th win of this year and his 45th career victory.

It is easy to forget that Woods is only 29. Golfers are supposed to reach their prime in their 30s. Jack Nicklaus won his last major in 1986 at the prime age of 46! Prize money has skyrocketed since Tiger Woods entered the world of professional golf exactly nine years ago. Already Woods has earned over 50 million dollars playing golf, compared to over five million that Nicklaus earned. Tiger Woods holds the record for the lowest score in three majors (Masters, US Open and British Open) and shares the record in the fourth, PGA, with Bob May. There are only two records that motivate Tiger Woods: Nicklaus's total wins in the majors (18; Woods has 10) and Sam Snead's total number of PGA tour victories (82; Woods has 45). If Tiger Woods remains healthy and as motivated, it is inconceivable that those goal would elude him. These days, as professional golfers tee-off with Tiger Woods, they know that they are playing alongside a living legend, who happens to be only 29-year old!