ESPN.com - Golf Online - PGA Championship 2000 - Amazing Tiger show at Valhalla

By Karl Ravech
Special to ESPN.com
Monday, August 21

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The duel was epic and totally unexpected. But it was not unprecedented and the person who always reminded us that golf is a "funny game" was the least surprised to find himself in a playoff to win the PGA Championship.

Tiger Woods is not amazed by anything he does on the golf course, nor is he shocked when someone like Bob May shoots a 31 on the back side at Valhalla to match his own score. "That's golf," he says with the same casualness he sinks a six-inch putt. That is the true essence of a 24-year-old young man who continues to play with the maturity of a 44 year old.

When we arrived in Louisville on Monday of last week, we all had the same expectations: A fairly easy golf test when compared with the years other majors, the No. 1 player in the world content with his game and believing it was "rounding into shape." And there was history once again within the grasp of a golfer who is clearly destined to rewrite all of it.

In other words: This would be a walk.

Notah Begay, asked before the tournament began if he and his fellow players have been forced to change the way they play a major and be more aggressive, said no. "We're all in a little bit of shock and don't really know what to make of it."

I said: "Don't you all think the bubble will eventually burst, that this run will eventually end?" He just shook his head, at a loss to explain his reaction or the actions of Woods, his former Stanford teammate.

What did we learn this week, that we didn't already know about the man who has become the No. 1 sports figure in the world? We saw the true definition of a champion. Woods' ability to hit the shots he needed to when he needed to reminded us of a Michael Jordan, who could always be counted on to sink the shot when his team asked.

What did we learn a the PGA? Woods has the ability to call on some inner source of strength. It's partly his dependence on a golf swing that has been re-shaped and polished and fine-tuned to the point where nearly every golfer on tour (and in America) wants to, at the very least, understand it (let alone attempt to copy it). It's partly the sheer power of his ability to focus solely on the task in front of him. And most importantly, it's his willingness to acknowledge that he is not, as everyone else believes, perfect.

All of this makes Tiger Woods unique.

His world is very private, as it should be. He is a human being performing at a robotic level, yet he is affected by what other people say and think. There is no coat of armor to protect his feelings, and thank Fod he is not afraid to show them.

When Nick Faldo was so dominant and mechanical, he was compared to a machine. Tiger Woods will never face such an analogy. He pumps his fist. He yells at himself. He smiles.

He has every reason to be big-headed and egotistical yet he shows little if no evidence of such an attitude. He is humble and not afraid to laugh at himself. His drives on the 17th and 18th holes of the playoff on Sunday were no better than something you see everyday on a public course, yet he was able to do what few of us can -- save par to win a major championship.

Now he travels to Ohio for the NEC Invitational, where he is the defending champion. He seems to be the defending champion in every event. Woods will earn close to $10 million this year, but his achievements cannot be measured in financial terms. He doesn't worry about his money -- why should we? His concern is to play golf at a level that no one else can, to win as many major championships as possible. He has won in every fashion under every condition.

The thing I took away from the PGA Championship is this: I need to listen better. We all need to believe the things that Woods says. While he expects to be in contention in every major, he does not expect to win them all. Yet we expect him to be there.

When he says golf is a "funny game" he means it. Translation? Bob May has a chance just like anyone else.

He does not look at the game through the eyes of a 24 year old. He sees things that men twice his age don't. He observes and he absorbs and then uses that knowledge to accomplish his goals.

He has a unique ability to comprehend the significance of seemingly insignificant events that others just don't. Who else would take the time to remember the putting line of May on the 16th hole of regulation, only to be able to put it into play during the three-hole playoff one hour later? Tiger's birdie putt on that hole was the difference in the championship.

Reality says that his success in majors can not continue at this pace. He says as much. But any lack of success will not be attributed to a lack of preparation, either physical or mental. It is a fair conclusion to say he likely will never lose, but he will acknowledge he can be beaten. And there is a fundamental difference.

ESPN's Karl Ravech writes regularly on golf for ESPN Golf Online