Better & better: from players to courses to equipment , golf leaps into 2003

Golf Digest, Jan, 2003 by Jaime Diaz

Golf seasons ending in the number 3 tend to be the very definition of the odd year. Whereas, 1930, 1960 and 2000 are synonymous with the best of Jones, Palmer and Woods, years like 1923, 1963 and 1973 gave us the best of Arthur G. Havers, Bob Charles and Tommy Aaron. But odd can also mean uncanny, which describes Ouimet's miracle in 1913, Hogan's Triple in 1953 and Miller's 63 in 1973. Good things often come in 3s, and they will again in 2003.

That's because the game is in a golden era of radical improvement. All through golf, the best players are getting better at getting better. Today's prodigies leap from raw talent to high polish in an instant, like 14-year-old Philip Francis of Scottsdale, who will go for his record fifth straight boys age-group championship in the Callaway Junior World, or Hawaii's Michelle Wie, who last year played in three LPGA events at age 12. On the Buy.com Tour, (now the Nationwide Tour), where the power game of tomorrow is gaining shape, 15 players averaged more than 300 yards in driving distance, led by Victor Schwamkrug at 328.5 yards. On the PGA Tour, the record number of 18 first-time winners in 2002 demonstrates more players making bigger leaps in ability than ever. Annika Sorenstam's jump to Mickey Wright-like dominance has happened in a flash, and in 2002 four 45-plus players--Nick Price, Jeff Sluman, Fred Funk and Loren Roberts--made the Tour Championship. The best example of continued progress was Hale Irwin, who at 57 became the oldest leading money-winner in the history of what is now the Champions Tour.

Better equipment, instruction and fitness play a role in the trend, but the prime mover continues to be Tiger Woods and his "no limits" approach to excellence. "Tiger showed us mastery in all the sides of the game that we didn't really know we had been lacking," says Jerry Kelly, who in 2002 won twice for the first victories of his PGA Tour career. "It's like he woke everyone up." Confirms the sage Tom Watson, who at 53 had his best senior-tour season: "I learn from Tiger."

And so the most intriguing question of 2003 is, can Woods himself still significantly improve? As good as he has been, his last two seasons have not been up to his transcendent 2000. If his best is still in front of him, Woods at 27 is due for an "I've got it" moment like the one in May 1999 that ignited the finest 18 months of golf ever. Woods surely will focus on driving accuracy after he hit only 67.5 percent of fairways to rank 107th on the tour. Arguably stronger in all other areas, a straighter-driving Woods would be more capable than ever of the calendar year Grand Slam, with this year's major tracks at Augusta, Olympia Fields, Royal St. George's and Oak Hill particularly inviting.

The tangle below Woods to determine his most dangerous challenger should be sorted out in 2003. As good as they are, both Phil Mickelson and Ernie Els have been leavened by fatherhood. The most lean and hungry--and gifted--in the pack is Sergio Garcia. Whatever his excesses at the Ryder Cup, Garcia showed moxie in the way he corrected his frightening waggling problem and in the solid manner he finished among the top 10 in all four majors. Soon to be 23, Garcia bought Els' old home in Orlando and will do less back-and-forth globe-trotting in 2003 to better marshal his energies for the biggest moments. His most worrisome tendency is missing big putts on Sunday, a flaw due mostly to wanting it too much. If Garcia learns to make them, Woods will have his feistiest challenger.

Expect one or more players to arise from the talent pool of those who have most closely modeled Woods. Justin Rose emerged from the wasteland of rushed prodigy and the illness and death of his father to win four times around the world, exhibiting an unflappable temperament and well-rounded game. Another hotshot who overreached, Aaron Baddeley, paid his dues on the Buy.com Tour, where he led in average birdies per round to earn his way to the PGA Tour. On the other hand, without early success, 18-year-old Ty Tryon will be scrutinized as the latest cautionary tale.

The most likely to emerge near the top is Charles Howell III, who in achieving his first tour victory finally got religion on the short game and putting. "I've always loved blasting the ball," says Howell, who led the tour in total driving in 2002, "but I had forgotten that it's not the whole game." At the urging of David Leadbetter, the admittedly too mechanically oriented Howell has employed a Seve-like putting grip and a new appreciation and trust for feel. "It's the missing piece," says Leadbetter. "He's already a dramatically more complete player."

Among those players not on the rise, David Duval must have a reversal of fortune from his abysmal 2002 or risk losing permanent contact with the lead pack. Although his idiosyncratic but heretofore bulletproof swing let him down, and an accumulation of injuries, tough losses and personal problems have taken an understandable toll, the latest version of Duval's uneven play since his fleeting moment at No. 1 in 1999 further fueled suspicions that he's an enigmatic head case.