As Woods Stepped Back, the Field Surged Forward

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/17/sports/golf/as-woods-stepped-back-the-field-surged-forward.html

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GULLANE, Scotland — The first time Tiger Woods played at Muirfield, in 2002, he was stopped on his way to the practice range by a security guard because he did not have his credential. On Monday, in his first trip back, Woods was stopped on his way to his practice round by a security guard when he arrived at the 10th tee a few minutes before the course’s official 7 a.m. opening.

In a few buttoned-up corners of the world, things never change. Everywhere else, change is the only constant.

Eleven years ago, Woods arrived at the British Open 2 for 2 in the year’s majors, having won the Masters and the United States Open. He tees off this week at Muirfield in search of his first major title in 17 starts.

Since Woods won the 2008 United States Open, 20 major champions have been crowned, 14 for the first time. In that stretch, only two players, Rory McIlroy and Padraig Harrington, have collected more than one major title. In the 20 majors leading to and including his 2008 victory at Torrey Pines, Woods won six times.

So what is different? His health, for starters. In recent years, Woods has been sidelined with various injuries, most recently a strained left elbow that flared up during his tie for 32nd at the United States Open last month. “The elbow feels good,” Woods said, adding: “I needed to have this thing set and healed. And everything is good to go.”

Nick Faldo, a six-time major winner, suggested Woods’s self-belief in the majors, where trusting one’s instincts and swing are paramount, was not 100 percent. “Maybe there’s a little dent in there,” Faldo said.

If Woods’s confidence has taken a licking and started flickering, it was not evident at his news conference Tuesday. “I feel very good about my game,” he said.

In actions, if not words, Woods, the world No. 1, has shown beats of indecision, key moments when he seems not to have trusted his instincts or stroke. “He hits the wrong shot at the wrong time,” Faldo said, “where before, Tiger would hit the right shot at the right time.”

Woods’s average third-round score in the majors since the 2008 United States Open is 71.5, compared with 69.9 in the 20 majors before that. In the fourth round, it was 70.5 before the 20-major drought and 71.7 during.

What is the difference between Woods’s winning six titles in one 20-major stretch and none in another? Graeme McDowell, the 2010 United States Open champion, suggested it was a combination of Woods’s game slipping slightly and everyone else’s improving.

“I think sort of in a period when Tiger kind of went missing for a couple of years there,” McDowell said, “it gave a lot of players a chance to step up to the plate and show how healthy the game of golf is, and get their confidence up and win the big ones and really get a bit of belief in themselves.”

He added: “He certainly has set the standard for how good guys can be. I think everyone has kind of stepped up to the mark.”

Even when Woods was acquiring major trophies the way Donald J. Trump did high-rises, he never lost perspective. In 2002, he played his third round of the British Open in the worst weather imaginable and posted an 81, his highest score as a professional. There were those who rued that high wind and hard rain washed out Woods’s calendar Grand Slam, but he was not one of them.

“I think sometimes, the media and everybody tend to lose perspective on how difficult it is to win a major championship,” Woods said. “Anytime you can win one major in a year, it is going to be a successful year.”

So, no, Woods, 37, did not need five years of major deprivation to be able to appreciate his dynastic period. From the start, he recognized how hard it was to triumph over the pressure, the difficult conditions and the deep fields. Players become nervous. They make mistakes. They rise to the occasion. For the rugged individualist, it is the ultimate rush.

“We’ve seen throughout the years where guys have certainly played well and executed on the back nine and have gone on to win,” Woods said. “And where also when guys have had leads and made a bunch of mistakes and have thrown it away. It goes both ways. And that’s the neat thing about major championships.”

Any shot that the mind can conceive can be achieved on the links courses in the British Open rotation. The tournament is to the other majors what poetry is to literature, the perfect union of the right and left brain.

Woods, a three-time British Open winner, said: “To be able to dink a 5-iron from 150 yards and bump it on the ground. Or vice versa, have 260 out and hit a 4-iron and it bounces over the green. That to me is pretty neat because we play generally everywhere around the world an airborne game where you have to hit the ball straight up in the air and make it stop. Here, it’s different. A draw will go one distance, a fade will go another, and they’re so dramatic. And I just absolutely love it.”

Golfers are the fortunate ones, and Woods, a four-time winner this year, knows it. He has four days four times a year to create a masterpiece for the ages. His girlfriend, the skier Lindsey Vonn, is afforded a few minutes every four years to create her athletic legacy. “So it’s very different,” he said.

Woods has gone four full years without a major win. The figure skater Michelle Kwan went four Olympics without one. So Woods will try his best to win this week, and if he does not, well, the P.G.A. Championship is near.

“Even though I haven’t won a major championship in five years, I’ve been there in a bunch of them where I’ve had chances,” Woods said. “I just need to keep putting myself there, and eventually I’ll get some.”