IN HIS 1992 autobiography, Charlie Sifford wrote: "What golf needs . . . is a black man with a great deal of personal magnetism and a whale of a game who can demonstrate that blacks can fit into the game." Five years on, as if to order, Tiger Woods has launched the game into a new era with more talent than even Sifford could have imagined.
As the first black golfer to make an impact on the US tournament scene, Sifford was controversially overlooked for a Masters invitation. In yesterday's Augusta Chronicle, Earl Woods, the champion's father, was pictured being congratulated by Ron Townsend, the first black member of Augusta National. These are remarkable times.
"After this, we will have a situation where no one will even turn their head to notice when a black person walks to the first tee," said Lee Elder, who became the first black competitor in the Masters in 1975.
South Africa's Gary Player, who captured the title on three occasions, saw the achievement in an international context. "Tiger Woods has the opportunity to do something for the human race that no other golfer before him has," he said. "Imagine the black people of Africa - 400 million watching Tiger win the Masters ..."
As USA Today put it in an editorial: "The result is a moment of enchanting transition, when a new generation arrives with new ideas and standards. Such moments may be traumatic, of course. But in golf as in all sport as in all of life the changeover is thrilling to witness. After all, when you make history, you make the future, too."
By his extraordinary deeds last weekend, Woods has pointed towards a future that will be viewed with mixed emotions. It offers wonderful hope to the black community, particularly the youngsters who will see him as a splendid role model. But it also presents a daunting challenge to those established players who would aspire to match his prodigious talent.
Jerry Pate, the former US Open champion, suggested that Woods now has a realistic chance of becoming the first player to do the grand slam of professional majors the Masters, US Open, British Open and USPGA Championship. The closest anyone came to this forbidding feat was in 1953, when Ben Hogan won the Masters, US Open and the British Open. He didn't compete in the PGA.
"It's possible," said Pate. "No question. The toughest event for him would probably be the British Open, though this year's venue, Troon, should be right up his alley. So are the other two Congressional (US Open) and Winged Foot (PGA). Right up his alley. Yes, I think he could possibly pull, it off."
Meanwhile, there is also speculation as to the changes that may become necessary to the Augusta National course if a repetition of last weekend's dominance is to be averted. For instance, it was only after mis hitting a two iron tee shot at the 485 yard 10th on Sunday that Woods found it necessary to use more than a seven iron approach at any of the par fours: he hit a five iron.
"They'll have to make adjustments," said Jack Nicklaus, for whose dominant skills the two fairway bunkers were introduced, 30 years ago. "They like this course tough; it's supposed to be tough. They could tighten the fairways and maybe add some bunkers. That would be the most obvious change."
For his own part, Woods behaved impeccably in his moment of triumph and in the various media interviews. He displays remarkable maturity for a 21 year old, which may have something to do with being an only son, mixing with adults, and with his two years at Stanford University.
He was gracious enough to suggest that he never imagined having such an overwhelming lead. "It's not what I envisioned," he said. "You envision duelling it out with say Faldo or Nicklaus or Watson - someone who's awfully tough to beat down the stretch. You dream of doing that or getting into a play off. But never in the fashion that I did it."
He has decided not to play in this week's Heritage Classic, which means a week off for his colourful caddie, Mike "Fluff" Cowan. And the 49 year old has decided to celebrate by taking his wife, Lynn, on a belated honeymoon to Venice and Paris.
It is a just reward for a caddie highly rated by his employer. Said Woods: "Fluff means a lot to me. He knows my game and he's been at Augusta a lot. Some of the reads we had were tricky." Indeed they have become a splendid partnership since Cowan answered the call last autumn when his employer for the previous 19 years Peter Jacobsen, was ill.
But all is not sweetness and light regarding the new champion. Henry Yu, a professor of history and Asian American studies at the University of California, takes the view that Woods is being exploited, because of having a black American father and a Thai mother.
He claims: "Tiger Woods' professional debut was hailed as a multicultural godsend to the sport of golf ... A Tiger of many colours would change forever the complexion of the game - attracting inner city children to golf in the same way that Michael Jordan did for basketball - at the same time selling the sport to a burgeoning Asian market.
"By casting Tiger Woods as the embodiment of multiculturalism we make a valiant attempt to contain within a single body all the ethnic diversity that multiculturalism purports to represent. All of us are products of cultural intermingling. More and more of us are both true hybrids unable or unwilling to say what we are.
Professor Yu went on: "Yet society as a whole, as defined by our national media in sports and advertising, remains locked into racial thinking that insists on purity of definition, all in relation to white privilege. That is how Tiger Woods was defined, a young black man playing a white man's game."
Race clearly remains a highly sensitive issue in American sport. And officials of CBS remain highly sensitive regarding remarks their commentators may make about Augusta National during coverage of the Masters. As David Feherty discovered.
After Woods had established his remarkable lead, Feherty suggested in last Saturday's telecast that there was unlikely to be another collapse (like Greg Norman's last year) "although the Masters has had some of golf's greatest banana skins".
His superiors at CBS were so concerned about possible reaction by Augusta officials that they spoke to Feherty about it, much to the Ulsterman's surprise. It was pointed out, however, that the phrase referred to possible collapses and not to the idea of litter on the course.
Against that background, an American television critic concluded: "Perhaps Feherty's press' privileges for next year will not be revoked." Yes, indeed. It was a truly remarkable weekend.
. Woods's stunning victory has taken him from eighth to first in the race for places on the American Ryder Cup team. As if there was any doubt anyway, he now looks certain to make his cup debut at Valderrama in September.
US captain Tom Kite, runner up to Woods, joked: "I think he has a chance to make the team. If 800 points does not make it I will probably pick him."
