Without Tiger around, Els and Garcia are bullish
SOUTHPORT, England - It was days following the 1999 PGA Championship and his dramatic splash-down onto the PGA Tour stage when 19-year-old Sergio Garcia hooked up for a practice round with an icon of the game, one who already had earned two major championships among his seven PGA wins. It wouldn't be a stretch to say that day helped spark a friendship that still burns true.
"We [have done] a lot of [things] together, commercials and golf days and stuff like that," said Ernie Els. "We're pretty good friends."
In the 29-year-old Els, Garcia saw a role model and mentor to so many golfers who had traveled international routes that wound through the European PGA Tour. Given that their practice round at the Sprint International nine Augusts ago was only days after Garcia had finished one stroke behind Tiger Woods in the PGA Championship at Medinah CC outside Chicago, chances are the conversation revolved around how difficult it was to beat the raging phenomenon.
They haven't had to change the topic of conversation much over the last nine years, either.
Woods's brilliance remains relentless, and one could argue that no two golfers have been on the bruising side of it more than Els and Garcia. Despite the fame and fortune professional golf has delivered them, they've been denied even more glory by Woods, whose presence always has been felt.
"I think the thought of him around is quite ominous, especially coming down the stretch or even preparing yourself for a last round when he's in the mix," said Els.
But not this week. As the curtain prepares to rise on the 137th Open Championship at Royal Birkdale, competitors have no concerns about the world's top-ranked player stealing the thunder, as he has 14 times in 46 starts in the majors since turning pro. There's no reason to look over their shoulder to wonder what Woods shot, no reason to guess at what sort of magic he'll generate, no reason to fear he'll somehow steal a victory.
That's because for the first time since the 1996 PGA Championship, when Woods was prepping for his third straight US Amateur title, there will be a major golf championship played without him. Addressing years of pain, Woods is sidelined until early 2009 after having reconstructive surgery on his left knee in mid-June, and if you think the bookmakers in the UK are breathing easier, it's nothing compared to the players.
"I'm not overly disappointed that he's not here, as a player," said Els in a news conference yesterday. The response was delivered with a smile and elicited laughter, much like Garcia did two months ago, during the trophy presentation after the Spaniard won The Players. "I would like to thank Tiger for not being here," Garcia said that day, and while both comments could be taken as lighthearted, there are enough competitive wounds belonging to both men to rationalize the belief that Woods's absence helps them the most.
In other words, maybe they weren't joking at all.
With 65 PGA Tour wins, including 14 majors, Woods certainly has made a wide range of players feel his unyielding wrath. But with no disrespect to those blue-collar lads who pushed him in majors (Rocco Mediate, most recently, and before that Woody Austin, Chris DiMarco, and Bob May), what puts a frame around the man's career is the way in which he has made things look easy at the expense of marquee names who know it is so difficult - guys such as Colin Montgomerie and Stuart Appleby, Stewart Cink and Charles Howell, Adam Scott and Luke Donald, Paul Casey and Justin Rose.
All of them are capable of winning major championships, but combined they have won zero during the Woods era, and more noteworthy are those who've won just one: Davis Love, Justin Leonard, David Duval, Jim Furyk, and Geoff Ogilvy.
Those who've won multiple majors since Woods made his pro debut mirror a list you'd produce if asked to name the best players of this generation behind Woods - Phil Mickelson (three), Vijay Singh (three), Retief Goosen (two), and Els (two of his three).
Still, if you tossed all that together, it's difficult to think any players besides Els and Garcia have been more consistently frustrated by Woods. Shockingly, despite being one of the world's greatest ball-strikers and drivers, Garcia has won a tournament in which Woods was entered just three times. More telling is what has happened the three times he has secured the final Sunday pairing with Woods in a major:
In that 1999 PGA, Garcia was tied with Woods through 54 holes, but was outplayed, 71-72, over the final 18 holes.
In the 2002 US Open, Woods led Garcia by four entering the final round, shot 72 to the Spaniard's 74, and breezed.
Two summers ago at the British Open, Garcia posted a dramatic third-round 65 to pull within one of Woods, only to get outscored, 67-73, in a humbling closing effort that forever will be remembered as the day he was dressed in yellow, top to bottom. Perfect for the second banana role he tends to play to Woods, but the 28-year-old remains unperturbed when it is suggested there's a huge void this week.
"With all due respect," said Garcia, "the Open is bigger than any of us, even Tiger Woods. Nobody is bigger than the tournament itself."
But is his quest for a British Open - or any major, for that matter - made easier by the fact Woods is sitting at home with a cast on his left leg?
Garcia, who is the betting favorite, seemed OK with this angle, so he shook his head.
"Definitely," he said. "When you don't have the No. 1 player in the world playing, obviously it gives you a little bit more of a chance. But it doesn't mean that it's yours to win."
Els, who followed Garcia into the media center, offered similar sentiments, which isn't a surprise, given that he has experienced the Woods factor like his friend. While he has won eight tournaments in which Woods was entered, only two were majors, and more plentiful have been the heartaches. In 2000, Els recorded second-place finishes to Woods in the US Open (15) and British Open (8) by a combined 23 shots, and a tournament in Thailand in 1998 forever will sit in a corner of the Big Easy's mind. He had an eight-stroke lead in the final round, only to see Woods storm back and win.
"Choke is a very strong word in golf," said Els, when asked if that's what happens when players get into a head-to-head battle with Woods. "You've got [other players to worry about], but you know this guy, he's going to be in contention at the end of the day. Yeah, there's definitely a thought of him in your mind all the time."
But what there isn't any need for is an asterisk. On that, players are unanimous. No Woods? That's a shame for the championship, for the fans, but it doesn't take away from the end result that one player can savor late Sunday. A claret jug.
"There's the notion that it's an easy tournament to win since he's not here," said Ogilvy. "That's not the case. It won't be a hollow victory."
Garcia concurred. "If I manage to win this week, I'm not going to go, 'Oh, I won the British Open but Tiger wasn't there.' I will still have the claret jug - which is the most important thing."
Besides, Garcia and Els will counter that disappointments have been delivered to them by players not named Woods. Just last summer, for instance, the Spaniard had a one-stroke lead in the British when his bogey at the 72d hole dropped him into a tie with Harrington, who then won a four-hole playoff.
"I've been exactly where he was," said Els, and he didn't have to set the scene. The 2004 Masters is a bitter memory for the big man from South Africa. He was standing on the putting green late that April Sunday, tied for the lead with Phil Mickelson, when the roars of the crowd at the 18th hole signaled a winning birdie for the lefthander.
Els was crushed, and thus does he understand what Garcia went through last year. "Losing [like that] is very tough to take, but he's young, he's going to have lots more opportunities," said Els yesterday, though he probably had similar words for Garcia back on that August day in 1999, too.
Some things don't change, except for those times when they change dramatically with the absence of one man, a thought that brought a smile to Els's face.
"Golf," he said. "Anyone can win."
Els and Garcia this week - but not Woods - included.
Jim McCabe can be reached at jmccabe@globe.com.
