'W' factor has Tiger hunting for more fun

GOLF: Like digits on a cash register, the numbers keep ringing up. Take "11," the number of majors he has won. Take "50," his number of career tournament wins on the US Tour. Take "Five," the number of times he's won this season. Take "One," his position in the world rankings. Take "5,523,968," the number of dollars he has rung up in prize-money around the globe this year.

For Tiger Woods, though, it is not about numbers as about a certain letter. "W," not as in his surname, but as in winning. Once he stands on the first tee in a tournament, his only thought process is concerned about getting the ball into the 72 tin cups in fewer strokes than anyone else.

Yesterday, at Medinah, the scene of his first USPGA championship win in 1999, Woods was asked what motivates him? Sniffling through an allergy, he replied: "Ws. Just getting Ws. That is why I play, is to win; and to beat everybody in the field. That's fun."

Woods, who has won his last two tournaments in clinical and controlled fashion, in the British Open and the Buick Open, is - as per usual - the pre-championship favourite heading into the season's final major. His preparations involved showing up here at this exclusive course in the north-western suburbs of Chicago on the Monday before he won the Buick Open and then returning home the following week to his home in Florida to practice the shots he would require on this latest test.

Now, he's back; and ready for a test on a course that has been significantly revamped since 1999, when he famously held off Sergio Garcia down the home stretch.

When Woods returns to a course where he has previously won, he likes nothing better than to reminisce and particularly by re-enacting a particular putt or shot.

This time, that couldn't happen, as the green on the 17th hole, where he made the critical par saving putt, has been completely replaced by a new green, which has been positioned closer to the water.

"I keep thinking about the putt in the brain, since the green's no longer physically there. I can't go back and hit putts there and reminisce anymore . . . my life's changed (since 1999) quite a bit, on and off the course. It's a maturation process. I was still very young on tour (then), I didn't really know a lot.

"I was in my third year and I think it really takes probably a good five years to really and truly understand the tour. I was still young and fresh to the whole thing of being a professional golfer. Things have changed quite a bit since then," said Woods.

To be sure, they have. Now very much the dominant player, he has raised the bar for others as well as himself. As Phil Mickelson, the world's number two, remarked yesterday: "I love the chance of competing against Tiger, he's pushed me to a level of success I might not have achieved if he was not there."

Likewise, Jim Furyk, the world's number three, observed: "The way to get better is to look at people that are better than you, that can do things on the golf course that you can't and try to incorporate some of that into your own game and figure out how you can be better . . . having Tiger out there and excel and be the best player in the world for so long, I think a lot of players have tried to incorporate some of those things into their game and try to make themselves better because of it."

Woods is the one who raised the bar, and he comes to Medinah on the back of his 50th US Tour win at the Buick Open a fortnight ago, becoming the youngest player in history to achieve that milestone. His win at Hoylake was his 11th career major, again the youngest player to reach that mark and it has put him just seven major titles behind the all-time record of 18 held by Jack Nicklaus.

For the first two rounds (at least) of this PGA Championship, Woods will be paired with Mickelson, as well as US Open champion Geoff Ogilvy. It's the first time since the 2001 US Masters that Woods and Mickelson have played together in a major, and Woods believes the first two rounds will be quite different than if they were paired together on the final day.

"It's different in that you're not in contention to win a golf tournament yet. You're trying to put yourself in position to win. When you're playing with Phil or Vijay or Ernie or Goose, you play against those guys down the stretch on Sunday. But on Thursday or Friday, you're just getting started into the rhythm of the round, into the rhythm of the tournament.

"You're just trying to position yourself, and then see what happens on the weekend."

While Woods left nobody in any doubt in his media conference yesterday that his main aim this week is to add another "W" to his winning sequence, the world's number one also took time to comment on the death of Heather Clarke and Padraig Harrington's gesture to donate his prize-money this week to a charity for breast cancer research.

"I think that's very admirable, what Paddy is doing. Paddy is one of the greatest guys out here. You know he has got a big heart every time you talk to him, so it doesn't surprise me at all."

Woods added: "As far as Darren dealing with the things he has had to deal with, no one can truly understand what he has gone through unless you've actually experienced it yourself.

"I could not imagine going through that and watching someone that you were going to spend the rest of your life with deteriorate and go through the hardships and then eventually move on . . . it's a loss for everyone who ever got a chance to meet her and know her."